Maui Fire Department Promotes 3 to Captain

By Maui Now Staff

The Maui Fire Department today announced the promotion of three members from the rank of firefighter III to captain.

The promotions were announced by Maui Fire Chief Jeffrey Murray and include Lionel Montalvo, Kekoa Puhi, and Kaipo Kahai.

Lionel Montalvo. MFD photo.

Both Montalvo and Puhi are 23-year veterans who joined the department in 1991.

Montalvo was first assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau, and spent six years as a fire inspector before being reassigned to the Wailuku Fire Station as a firefighter III.

Kekoa Puhi. MFD photo.

Puhi has worked in several districts over his career including the Fire Prevention Bureau, and at neighbor island fire stations on Lānaʻi, and in Hoʻolehua, Kaunakakai, and Pūkoʻo on Molokaʻi. His current assignment is at the Kaunakakai Fire Station.

Kaipo Kahai. MFD photo.

Kahai, is a 14-year veteran who started his career as a firefighter I at the Kaunakakai Station for one year. He then spent seven years at the Nāpili Station before being promoted to firefighter III and serving a year at the Pūkoʻo Station on Molokaʻi

Kahai spent the last five years back at the Nāpili Fire Station.

Chief Murray said that “the promotions are well deserved” and that the communities in which the new captains are assigned “will greatly benefit from the knowledge, training and experience these men have to offer.”