On a windy afternoon in March, firefighter Jeremy Buttz dropped - TopicsExpress

On a windy afternoon in March, firefighter Jeremy Buttz dropped from a helicopter into the choppy waters off the Kohala Coast to stay with two kayakers who had been blown out to sea. Buttz, who works in the South Kohala Fire Station, is one of 16 firefighters being honored this year by the Daniel Robert Sayre Memorial Foundation at its 17th annual awards ceremony, set for Aug. 30. Though not a fire rescue specialist, Buttz has been trained for ocean rescues, and when the department’s Chopper 1 was unavailable, Buttz boarded Chopper 2 and headed to the coastal area off Akoni Pule Highway, where the kayakers were located. “Because of the high winds and heavy white caps they produce, locating the kayakers was going to be difficult even from the air in Chopper 2,” said a written account of the rescue, which was provided by the foundation. “With radio communications and the help of the (kayakers’) father and land based personnel (the helicopter) was able to locate the kayakers approximately 1.5 miles off shore.” #BigIslandNews