The Jan. 7 benefit at the Hyatt Regency Maui will feature music by Gretchen Rhodes with The House Shakers.

KAANAPALI — Joseph Pluta thinks that the November brushfire in Lahaina should serve as a wakeup call to the West Maui community.

The wildfire burned over 2,000 acres and came close to Lahaina schools and homes.

If periodic strong winds shifted downhill during the multi-day fire, the outcome could have been devastating.

“People don’t know how close we have been to that in the past 20-plus years,” said Pluta.

Entering 2023, the West Maui Improvement Foundation Inc. (WMIF) and West Maui Taxpayers Association (WMTA) president urges Maui County and the community to have a renewed focus on health and safety.

He pointed out that Maui has only one major hospital, the Lahaina Fire Station is the busiest Maui Fire Department station in Maui County, and first responder services in West Maui are “dramatically strained,” Pluta noted.

“The priorities of health and safety have to be moved up in everyone’s minds,” Pluta added.

He encourages residents and visitors to join in WMIF’s grassroots effort to establish a new fire station at Olowalu to improve response times to calls in south Lahaina, Launiupoko, Olowalu and Ukumehame; potentially save lives and properties; expand MFD’s presence in West Maui; and to help battle massive brush fires that are common in the region.

A fundraiser for the Olowalu Fire Station project will be held on Saturday, Jan. 7, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Maui. The outdoor evening gala at the ocean view setting of the Halona Kai Terrace will feature a three-course dinner, music by Gretchen Rhodes with The House Shakers, dancing, and live and silent auctions.

West Maui Improvement Foundation has obtained access to vacation packages for its gala. The packages — including trips to Las Vegas, NASCAR and Wine Country — can be viewed at www.wmifinc.org. They are offered at substantial savings from retail prices and with tax-deductible advantages due to WMIF’s charity status for donations.

For tickets to the benefit and information on the fire station campaign, visit www.WestMauiImprovementFoundation.org.

The project is the result of hard work and cooperation from Maui Fire Department, WMTA/WMIF, Mahanalua Nui HOA Fire Committee, Olowalu Homes Inc., the County of Maui and many other individuals and associations.

Olowalu Homes Inc. is committed to donating two acres for the project at an elevated location 200 yards up the road at the improved intersection of Honoapiilani Highway near Mile Marker 14.5. The site was selected by Fire Chief Bradford Ventura.

The goal is to have the proposed fire substation be fully paid for with private funds, while the county will initiate land use approvals to facilitate the end result of having the ownership of the property and improvement gifted to it from WMIF.

West Maui Taxpayers Association used a similar strategy in developing the Napili Fire and Ambulance Station.

Pluta explained that the partners have identified a modular fire station made by L&H Industrial that can save millions in development costs. Dade County in Miami recently purchased three of the high-tech modular stations.

Since 2005, the county has proposed building a Haiku Fire Station at an estimated cost of $16.5 million. Using the L&H Industrial model, the station can be established for less roughly $4 million.

Pluta hopes this solution will lead to more new Maui Fire Department stations and firefighters to staff them.

In today’s world of negative news, Pluta hopes residents and visitors will join in this “uplifting” movement.

He wrote, “They say that ‘timing is everything.’ Have you experienced that being in the right place and at the right time is a truly difference-maker? Please consider that the time is NOW!

“There is no question that the miracle of a community privately developing its second fire station is officially underway. The West Maui Community has spoken with their wallets and personal attendance in support of the WMIF Olowalu Fire Station. IMUA!”

For more information, visit https://linktr.ee/wmif or call the WMIF office at (808) 661-7990.