Responding to Disaster with the Community at Heart

Like many of you, we watched in sadness as the fires consumed Lahaina. It is still hard to believe that destruction on this level came from forest fires in Hawaii.

Tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanos, and lava flows are well known to those of us who live, work and play on the islands. This was completely different.

KT Protection Services is a local company. Usually, when we say that, it means “Hawaiian Company.” Our head office is in Honolulu and we have clients all over the islands. But what happened on Maui got us thinking about how being local also means we have a connection to each individual community we serve. We were fortunate enough to not be directly affected by the fires. But we want to do what we can to support the city of Lahaina.

Although we were not directly affected, some of our clients were. One of our long-time clients, Kaiser Permanente reached out to us after the destruction of Lahaina. The fire damage affected many of their medical facilities. And in response, they began setting up mobile clinics.

These mobile units include doctors and nurses, equipment, and prescription drugs at volume that Kaiser is responsible for. It was amazing to watch them gear up and deliver this service so quickly into the community. We were honored when they reached out to ask if KT Protection Services could help them bring their medical resources to the community.

Having the opportunity to support Kaiser with this effort would mean now having two jobs. Keeping their operation up and running safely is job one. The other is treating the waiting patients with an extra dose of kindness and compassion.

Within a week of the fire, our team was called to be onsite with Kaiser. We expect that our current team will be there until about November helping in any way possible. Most of the KT team supporting the operations in Lahaina are from all over the Islands. However, in a couple of weeks, we want to start offering positions to the local community as desired. Hoping to create jobs wherever we can and try to support the affected families, businesses, and overall community.

We understand the role that KT Protection services can play on Maui very clearly now. Security is going to be in demand moving forward. From all the construction that will need to happen over the next few years and the ongoing support to rebuild the community. We are going to reinvest in our Maui operations and employ more local Maui residents hoping to be able to give back the number 1 way we know how to. As a Hawaiian company, it’s our responsibility to provide jobs and access to a livelihood for that community.

For now, we are standing by to see what others need. That way we can respond if there’s anything specific that we can do. Right now supporting Kaiser and supplying jobs is where we can provide the most help and support. The Next steps are unclear but we are standing by to assist.

We will be around long-term to help aid the economic recovery of Maui. The scars of Lahaina will never fully vanish. We also believe that Hawaiians helping Hawaiians will drive Maui’s healing. KT Protection Services will be there to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Hawaiian brothers and sisters and help them recover.