LIHUE – Kauai rescue worker Roy Constantino thinks of his job as just that, a job, like any one. Saving people’s lives is all in a day’s work. But the folks he and his team rescue see it a little
LIHUE – Kauai rescue worker Roy Constantino thinks of his job as just that, a job, like any one.
Saving people’s lives is all in a day’s work.
But the folks he and his team rescue see it a little differently.
“We get letters from people we’ve helped nearly every week,” said Constantino, a firefighter for 19 years, the last eight as a rescue specialist.
Like the woman he plucked off the Kalalau Trail when she couldn’t make it off the mountain.
“The helicopter dropped me off and I couldn’t climb all the way up to her that night, but I got her the next morning,” the 59-year-old said.
A batch of cookies and a thank you letter arrived at the Lihue Fire Station shortly after that rescue. Constantino said he keeps her letter tucked in his headboard because it was such a nice letter.
Then there’s the man at the beach in Anahola who needed to be scooped out of the Pacific Ocean after the waves had pushed him farther out than he had anticipated. When the boogie boarder couldn’t get back, Constantino and his fellow rescue workers were there.
“A helicopter lowered me down in a Billy Pugh safety basket and with the assistance of a firefighter on a surfboard, who had stayed with the guy, we pulled the visitor into the net,” explained Constantino. “And then the stranded boogie boarder and I were flown back to the shoreline.”
The list goes on.
There’s the one that earned Constantino and his team the prestigious 2010 International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Award for Valor for their valiant ultralight glider rescue.
“The Air 1 helicopter took us to the area where the pilot saw some debris, then the captain spotted a parachute on the ground,” Constantino remembered. “We didn’t think there were any survivors. It looked like it was going to be a recovery. As they lowered us down we saw some movement and it turned from a recovery into a rescue.”
While Air 1 was bringing back the first survivor, the captain explained that the ultralight pilot who had been waiting at the crash site was starting to slide down the hillside.
“As they lowered me down, I used both my hands to reach the pilot and was able to secure him less than a minute before he would have slipped,” said Constantino.
The 1974 graduate of Kapaa High School said most of their rescues are risky.
“But we try to do it as safely as possible,” he said. “Really, any firefighter would go and put themselves at risk to save someone. “
Not all calls have happy endings. In one, a child died.
“After that one, all of us went back to the station and called home to our families,” he said. “Seeing a 2-year-old lose their life makes everybody think about their kids at home. I just needed to listen to my son’s voice and hear him talk, that’s all. My youngest son is 22 years old. He’s bigger than I am at six foot three and I still hug him.”
Capt. Charlie Metivier said Constantino is dedicated to his job and an outstanding rescue worker because he treats everybody he meets like they are his family.
“When we come in contact with people they’re usually having the worst day of their lives,” Metivier said. “Constantino puts them at ease by the way he talks to them. He is definitely an asset to our team.”
When asked where he gets his way with people, Constantino’s answer came easily.
“I am who I am today because of my parents. My dad worked in the sugar cane fields,” he said. “And my parents met at a plantation camp in Kilauea. I’m a reflection of both of them.”
And his passion for rescuing people remains unmatched.
“I won’t give up doing this as long as I am able,” he said.
• This is an ongoing weekly feature in The Garden Island. It focuses on everyday people who reflect the spirit that makes Kauai the place it is today. If you know of somebody you would like to see featured, contact Lisa Ann Capozzi at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com or 245-0452.
