LIHU‘E — From the Kaua‘i Fire Department chief on down to volunteers who work tirelessly to educate visitors on beach and ocean safety, all applauded a fantastic rescue near Hanakapi‘ai Beach involving a visiting father and his two young sons.
But when a suggestion came for the Fire Commission to publicly honor one of the Kaua‘i men responsible for placing a rescue tube at the beach that was instrumental in effecting the rescue, a deputy county attorney Monday advised against it out of liability concerns.
“I just want to make sure we can avoid, through the benevolent action of commendating someone for that, we don’t passively put our seal of approval on that,” said Mauna Kea Trask, deputy county attorney, adding that hopefully it won’t be a problem.
“John Tyler should received some kind of letter from us recognizing what he’s done,” said Fire Commissioner George Simpson, adding that since the tube was put there by a nonprofit organization it should free the county of any liability in case someone uses it and gets into trouble in the ocean.
This, however, wasn’t enough to convince Trask, who asked commissioners to defer any action to commend Tyler.
A joint effort in March by KFD firefighters and lifeguards saved the lives of two young boys and their father, who were stuck inside an ocean cave just down the coast from Hanakapi‘ai Beach, along the remote Na Pali Coast.
Simpson at the Monday Fire Commission meeting said the rescue was a “spectacular” effort, “above and beyond anybody’s capabilities.”
But before all rescue personnel arrived at the scene, something else proved to be key to the positive outcome. The father grabbed a rescue tube placed on the beach and used it to keep his sons afloat.
The commission approved a motion to commend firefighters Gavin Kennelly and Dane Smith, along with Capt. Aukai Lee. The lifeguards will probably be the next ones to be commended, after KFD Chief Robert Westerman provides the commission with a full report.
Kaua‘i Lifeguard Association Vice Chair Tyler, who helped put the rescue tube on the beach and in several other areas on the island where county lifeguards are not present, however, will either have to wait a little longer for a thank-you note, or never get one.
Tyler, a lifeguard instructor from Los Angeles, after seeing so many drownings on Kaua‘i took the initiative to put lifesaving devices on unguarded beaches on the island.
He put the first rescue tube on Larsen’s Beach three years ago, hanging from a tree branch.
The program got broader, and there are currently 25 unguarded beaches with rescue tubes around Kaua‘i. And no, the tubes don’t hang from tree branches anymore. Instead, they now rest on eight-foot poles.
Tyler is proud to say that 12 people are alive today because of those rescue tubes, and probably many more were saved in incidents that went unreported.
The Fire Commission is aware of that. Simpson, admitting he was reluctant when he first came across the idea of the rescue tubes, said he changed his mind after fire captains have told him how many times the tubes assisted in saves.
Each set of tube and pole cost roughly $100, according to Tyler, who along with Dr. Monty Downs, through the Beach Guardian Program, has already certified 85 citizens of Kaua‘i to use the tubes.
The number of rescue tubes should double in the near future. Downs said recently he has successfully applied for a grant for 25 more tubes. The nonprofit organization is funded by private and public donations.
The “spectacular” rescue Simpson was referring to happened on the afternoon of March 28.
Reportedly, one of the boys was swept to the ocean, and his brother jump in to help. With both boys in trouble, the father grabbed the rescue tube and went after his sons. Somehow they all ended up inside an ocean cave, clinging to rocks.
Firefighters and lifeguards arrived at the scene with personal watercraft and inflatable boat, but determined the large surf made it unsafe to bring any vessel near the cave. Kennelly and Smith swam into the cave and took almost two hours to complete the rescue.
