Maui firefighter dies days after he was swept into storm drain while responding to floods

A Maui firefighter died over a week after he was swept into a storm drain while helping residents during flooding on the Hawaiian island. 

The incident happened on Jan. 27 as the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for excessive rainfall on the island of Maui.

Tre Evans-Dumaran, a 24-year-old Maui County firefighter, was “responding to storm conditions impacting residences” in Kihei in the western part of the island when he was swept into a storm drain, according to a statement from Maui County.

He was later found 800 yards from where the storm drain ended near a shoreline along the Maalaea Bay.

Evans-Dumaran was taken to a local hospital and placed in its intensive care unit “with multiple life saving measures in place,” officials said. 

Officials said the firefighter was making “positive and promising signs of progress” while hospitalized, but on Saturday, county officials said Evans-Dumaran family confirmed his death. 

“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,” Chelsie Evans, Evans-Dumaran’s mother, said in a statement. “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.”

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Maui County Fire Chief Brad Ventura said Evans-Dumaran, a three-year veteran of the department, loved his job and was happy to serve people. Mayor Richard Bissen, Jr. said he was heartbroken learning of Evans-Dumaran’s death, as he’d been receiving daily updates on his condition since the incident.