A Maui firefighter died Saturday morning from injuries suffered when he was swept into a storm drain Jan. 27 while responding to flooding in Kihei.
Maui County officials announced the death of 24-year-old Tre’ Evans- Dumaran in a news release that included a comment from his mother, Chelsie Evans.
“We want to thank the entire community for the outpouring of love during this time. My heart tells me that Tre’ wants to say thank you for loving his family, his fire ‘ohana, his friends during this time. He’d want people to keep giving blood, to keep doing your part as a hero, in the way he lived every day on Earth,” her statement said.
Evans-Dumaran and other Maui Fire Department personnel were responding to calls about flooded residences in South Maui amid heavy rain along windward areas of the island from Haiku to Hana in East Maui and on the southern slopes of Haleakala that funneled runoff down to the Kihei coastal area.
Evans-Dumaran was caught in a 4-foot-wide storm drain and swept approximately 800 yards to where it empties into the sea. Firefighters found him unresponsive on the shoreline. They began administering CPR and were joined by an American Medical Response ambulance crew before Evans- Dumaran was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center in critical condition.
Fighting severe lung damage and other complications, Evans-Dumaran had been on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit. Early updates from his family on a GoFund Me.com webpage set up for the firefighter indicated he was making progress toward recovery, including responding to commands to open his eyes and giving a thumbs-up once taken off sedation. However, his condition worsened late last week.
As of Saturday afternoon, over $123,000 in donations had been made via GoFund Me.com.
Evans-Dumaran’s family and friends also continued to urge supporters to donate blood through another website, treevansdumaran fightofhislife.com Opens in a new tab, which provided a link to make an appointment with the Blood Bank of Hawaii.
Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura called news of the firefighter’s death “devastating.”
“The amount of support from throughout our community and beyond Maui has been incredible,” Ventura said in the county news release Saturday. “We’ve all felt the depth of aloha and it makes all the difference. Tre’ loved being a firefighter and he loved those he worked with. Serving the community came naturally to him because he was so happy to serve people.”
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. offered his condolences to Evans-Dumaran’s family and acknowledged the daily risks faced by emergency responders as they serve the community.
