Help and healing with the H125, Hawaiian-style

The residents of Hawai'i Island have collectively funded their emergency services with world-class equipment over the course of 28+ years. It all started with a search for beauty.

No one just ends up on Hawai'i; you've chosen it — or it's chosen you. To people living here, the Big Island, as the largest of the state's islands is known, means the shimmer of cooled lava flows or a favorite spot to see a waterfall rainbow. 

It was this love of the island that took Daniel R. Sayre's life in 1997 while hiking to Kapaloa Falls in Pololu Valley. In the wake of their loss, his parents, Dr. Frank Sayre and Laura-Mallery Sayre, created a memorial foundation to honour the first responders who had worked 10 unrelenting hours to recover Daniel's body. In 28+ years, the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation has gone on to impact more lives on Hawai'i than they could have anticipated.

Equipping Hawaiʻi Island first responders 

"The rescue team was at the bottom of the barrel for receiving money," remembers Laura Mallery-Sayre, the Foundation's Executive Director. When they started out, the Sayres learned that the Hawai'i Fire Department – which handles search and rescue, emergency medical service, fire suppression and lifeguarding – lacked basic gear for their job. "They had made do with so little so long that it was just an expectation they would continue to do so. We've changed that."

The island's 4,000 sq. miles is home to 200,000 residents spread over towns, farms, remote cottages and everywhere in between. Boating accidents occur, adventurers get lost and stroke victims need transport. The fire department was dealing with it all . . . so the Sayres stepped into fundraising in the community, using the money to buy cold-weather gear, trucks, vessels, training — all donated to the fire department. 

From wildfires to mountain summits: Deploying ‘KaʻIo’

A key moment came in the aftermath of a wildfire that threatened the house of one of the island's benefactors. That launched a collaboration with the Sayre Foundation to fund large purchases, one of which was their first H125 helicopter, designated Ka'Io, or ‘The hawk'. 

A proven performer in high altitudes, the H125 was chosen for its ability to ascend Hawai'i's highest volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, each just under 14,000 ft (4,000 m), terrain that presents an attraction for climbers and skiers. When accidents occurred, rescuers "would have to load these people onto stretchers and hike them down. It was dangerous for everybody. Now with the H125, they can fly to the top of any mountain on our island," says Laura Mallery-Sayre.

In addition, the helicopter's range means it reaches everywhere on the island. Laura Mallery-Sayre recounts how a man in the south lost his leg below the knee in a mower accident. "It is so remote down there, but Ka’Io flew down and the EMS team put a tourniquet on his leg. An ambulance would have taken an hour and a half and Ka'Io got there in 25 minutes, got him to the hospital and saved his life.”