Big Island nonprofit donates two wildland tanker trucks to Maui fire crews

A Hawaiʻi Island nonprofit put two custom-built wildland tanker trucks into Maui Fire Department service in Kahului, adding 2,500 gallons of water capacity to an island still rebuilding its firefighting fleet after the Lahaina and Kula fires.

The Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation blessed the two Howe & Howe “Big Dog” 4x4 trucks at the Maui Fire Department Training Center on April 9. Each truck can carry up to 1,250 gallons of water, took nearly three years to build, and cost an estimated $625,000, a combined value of about $1.25 million.

The foundation was started by Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre after the death of their son, Danny, and has raised more than $40 million since 1997. It first funded 27 fire trucks for Hawaiʻi County and has since expanded its support to Maui, a sign of how inter-island disaster recovery is increasingly tied to private philanthropy, community foundations, and family-led giving. The donation was made in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund and the Bezos Family Foundation, and the foundation said five additional smaller tanker trucks are also being built for the Maui Fire Department.

Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said the new trucks improve operational readiness and surge capacity for wildland and remote-area incidents. That kind of off-road capability matters on Maui, where crews often need to leave pavement and get close to a fire before it spreads. Ventura has described tanker trucks as the department’s “workhorse” apparatus for getting water to the fire.

The need is rooted in the scale of the 2023 disaster. Maui’s after-action reporting said the August 8 wildfires were the largest and most extensive deployment in the history of the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety, with high winds linked to Hurricane Dora worsening conditions. The department also lost or damaged several apparatus in the fires, including four trucks that were lost in Lahaina and Kula, forcing a costly rebuild of basic response capacity.

Maui has already been replenishing its fleet through other public and private support. In September 2024, the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation announced $2.128 million for four more fire trucks for Maui, including a 3,500-gallon tanker, a 4x4 1,250-gallon tanker, a Skeeter brush truck, and a 1-ton pickup with a skid unit. Together, the donations show how recovery on the islands has become a rolling equipment campaign, with Big Island leadership helping shoulder the business of replacing what wildfire destroyed.