Community group raising funds for West Maui fire station

The same West Maui nonprofit that raised millions to build a fire station in Napili more than 20 years ago is moving closer to doing the same for a fire-prone community down the coast.

The West Maui Improvement Foundation announced last week that it had collected enough money and conditional pledges to account for nearly a quarter of its $2 million fundraising goal.

The target: construction of a fire station in Olowalu.

The largely undeveloped landscape around Olowalu is notorious for being fire-prone and has a long history of sizable brush fires, yet more than 500 homes have popped up in the area over the past couple of dec­ades on former sugar cane fields.

The latest blaze to light up the area occurred in June, when fire blackened 120 acres and — as it usually does — shut down Honoapiilani Highway, West Maui’s main artery to Central Maui.

The foundation has already obtained a 2-acre land donation from Olowalu Land Co. LLC, and the plan is to buy the components for a modular firehouse from a Canadian company and have it shipped and assembled there. A rendering shows a single-bay, two-bedroom station with an apparatus bay.

Once built, the Olowalu station would be given to Maui County, which would operate the facility.

County officials have expressed support for the project. While Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, fire officials previously said they would welcome the new station.

The fact is, according to Joe Pluta, president of the West Maui Improvement Foundation, Ventura actually picked out the site for the new station.

The project is not meant to be the final and permanent fire station, according to the foundation’s website. The county’s long-term plans acknowledge a station is needed but may not be feasible for many years.

“The county’s next fire station planned for Haiku (in East Maui) has been in the works for 18 years and is still not under construction,” Pluta said. “We can’t afford to wait for 18 years or longer for protection for the existing homes in the Olowalu area.”

Pluta said the region that includes South Lahaina, Launiupoko, Olowalu, Uku­mehame lies outside the 5-mile radius of the nearest fire station in Lahaina, which makes them more vulnerable to fire damage and loss of life. Because the homes are at greater risk, their fire insurance is much more expensive.

But with a new fire station in the area estimated to lower insurance costs for homeowners by up to 50%, Pluta has been urging area residents to make conditional pledges that allow them to pay over time with the insurance savings.

“It won’t cost them anything. They pay their pledges with the savings they’re going to get,” he said.

The foundation scored two substantial conditional pledges last week amounting to $100,000 apiece. By making the pledges contingent upon the fire station becoming operational, they give the foundation the ability to borrow funds and get the project done.

The West Maui Improvement Foundation got the project done more than 20 years ago in Napili, raising about $4 million. Pluta and several of the nonprofit’s board members took out second mortgages on their homes to get funding for a construction loan, and Maui Land and Pineapple Co. donated land for the station.

The public, after realizing the idea for a privately funded Napili station wasn’t just talk, got behind the proposal.

“The donations poured in,” he said.

Pluta is hoping history repeats itself.

An “Aloha to the Rescue” fundraiser is planned for Dec. 30 at the Westin Maui Resort and Spa.

For more information, visit westmauiimprovementfoundation.org.