Molokai Gets Two New Firefighters

MFD News Release

On Friday, Jan. 7, the Department of Fire and Public Safety celebrated the graduation of its 37th Firefighter Recruit Class in Kahului, including two Molokai recruits. 

Molokai’s Troy Heen and Lohiao Paoa were among the 19 firefighter recruits graduated from the Maui Fire Department’s 28-week Recruit Training Program. The program is designed to train and evaluate fire recruits on the many skills and disciplines necessary to serve the public as a firefighter. 

The 37th Recruit Class was comprised of 19 firefighter trainees. 15 firefighters will be joining the ranks with the Maui Fire Department and will be assigned to Maui County fire stations on Maui, Molokai and Lanai. They are Chase Alexander, Joseph Bingham, Luke Brown, Rhys Buen, Taylor DeGuerra, Ryan Dickson, Jordan Dunn, Joshua Gruber, Heen, Dylan Kane, Kendrick Komatsu, Paoa, Brian Park, Chase Rogers and Brian Tanaka. 

Four firefighters will go on to serve at State of Hawaii, Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting stations in Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii Island, and Maui. They are Elijah Calzo, Patrick Pendleton, Royce Needham and Vance Wright-Pacarro. 

Recruits received their badges and took their oath in a long-awaited ceremony. Each recruit selected a special family member to carry out the traditional “Pinning of the Badge.” Maui Fire Chief Bradford Ventura delivered the time-honored Firefighter’s Oath of Office, making it official. 

Graduating recruits were presented with the following awards, recognizing those who finished at the top of their class in the following categories. Paoa earned the award of Most Outstanding Overall. Selected by recruit training officers, this award is presented to the recruit that excelled in every phase of recruit training, and demonstrated outstanding leadership ability, projected an exceptional attitude and led their class in physical fitness performance.