LIHUE — Five promotions within the Kauai Fire Department and $12,000 in community contributions to the Friends of the Kauai Fire Department were highlighted, Tuesday during the Kauai Fire Department’s Promotional and Pinning ceremonies at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.
Accepting the contributions, the Friends of the Kauai Fire Department board, including Kilipaki Vaughn, president, Andy Oda, vice president, Robert Westerman, treasurer, Ray Keahi, secretary, and board members Alan Satta, Emily Medeiros, Monica Belz, Dana Hazelton, and Jill Lowry received awards from the Hawaii Medical Services Association, commonly known as HMSA, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and the Grove Farm Foundation.
The $5,000 HMSA contribution is for the Kauai High School Utilizer Group, more commonly known as KHUG, under the Community Risk Reduction. KHUG is an organic multi-agency partnership addressing the systemic challenges as it relates to high utilizer patients of the emergency medical service system.
Tim Takeshita and Samira Siale of Enterprise Rent-A-Car represented the Enterprise Holdings that presented a $2,000 award to the Junior Firefighter Program under Community Risk Reduction. The Junior Firefigher program is a Friends of the Kauai Fire Dept. and the Kauai Fire Department youth mentoring program collaboration that will be the only program of its type in the state when it starts in February with the Lihue State Airport firefighters and the Kilauea Elementary School and the Kanuikapono Public Charter School.
The Grove Farm Foundation presented $5,000 to the Kupuna Fall Prevention Collaboration under Community Risk Reduction. The Kupuna Fall Prevention Collaboration is a multi-agency collaboration between the county’s Agency on Elderly Affairs, American Medical Response, and the Kauai Fire Dept. that conduct vital assessment, medication management review, and home inspections.
The Kauai Fire Department promotions celebrated are effective Jan. 1 with the new ranking officers being pinned with their new badges by their significant others, said “Sue Kanoho’s husband, Solomon Kanoho” the KFD Battalion Chief that emceed the program.
Mathew Ballard, one of three new Firefighter 3 and a resident of Lihue, joined the Kauai Fire Dept. in 2010, a year after moving to Kauai, and was last assigned as a Firefighter 2 on Rescue 3 at the Lihue Fire Station. He currently serves on the department’s EMS Committee, Honor Guard, and the Helicopter Training Cadre.
Jacob Minei is the second Firefighter 3, joining KFD in 2010 and being stationed at Station 4, Koloa Fire Station under the command of Capt. Shawn Thompson. Minei, a resident of Kapaa, is on the EMS, Hazmat and Communications Committee as well as the Standpipe Operations Cadre.
Kalehiamaikalani “Lehia” Pomroy, born on Oahu and raised on Kauai, is the third Firefighter 3, following in his father, retired Fire Captain Paul Pomroy’s footsteps when he joined KFD in 2001. He was recently assigned a Firefighter 2 Hazmat Specialist at the Kaiakea Fire Station under Capt. Dustin Alfiler.
Going from being a math teacher to Fire Captain is the route taken by new Fire Captain William “Butch” Keahiolalo who lives in Wailua with his family. Joining the Kauai Fire Dept. in 2001, Keahiolalo’s last assignment was at the Firefighter 3 on Rescue 3, Lihue Green Shift under the command of Capt. Kawai Warren. He is also the current Kauai Fire Dept. director of the Helicopter Program.
Fire Captain Kilipaki Vaughn is more recently known as the Deputy Fire Chief for the past three years after being assigned to the post by Fire Chief Robert Westerman.
Vaughn, more affectionately labeled “Paki” by his KFD colleagues, has 16 years of service with the Kauai Fire Dept., serving on various department committees, including the Grant Committee where he was able to secure more than $8 million in funding that created new firefighter positions and procured a new Quint Apparatus and Fire Education Sparky trailer.
