Pinning ceremony held for new Maui Airport Fire Chief, Matthew Pires

The Aircraft Rescue & Fire-Fighting (ARFF) station at Kahului Airport has a new fire chief with a familiar name.

Matthew Pires, 36, becomes the youngest fire chief in history at the Kahului Airport Rescue & Fire-Fighting station, according to family members. He follows in the footsteps of his dad, Scott “Pomai” Pires who was Maui Airport Fire Chief for almost 10 years, retiring in May 2022. 

Matthew also made history as one of the youngest captains. He has 15 years of service and is also in the US Air Force Reserves 624th Civil Engineer Squadron as an E8 with 17 years of service.

Matthew started in Kahului and was promoted to lieutenant at Lānaʻi Airport, and later promoted to captain at the Molokaʻi Airport. His current promotion to chief in Kahului went into effect on July 1.

A pinning ceremony was held on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Among those in attendance were fellow firefighters, Matthew’s mother and father (Scott and Del Pires), Matthew’s girlfriend Arianna Gerry and their son Peter Pires “who will have big shoes to fill someday if he wants to carry on the family tradition,” according to family members.

Aircraft Rescue Fire-Fighting stations are state facilities, and while recruits go through joint training with the Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety, they operate separately from the county.