PHOTOS: Hawaiʻi Fire Department dispatcher Ciera Pacheco was still in training when a call came in from a woman who was driving. “Right off the bat, you could tell that it was a serious call because she was very panicky and frantic,” Pacheco said. “They’re just pleading on the phone, ‘What do I do? Tell me what to do, please.’” Pacheco learned the woman’s daughter was not breathing and instructed her to stop the car and lay her daughter flat on her back. Then she gave the woman instructions about how to perform CPR. A minute or two later, Pacheco heard a gasp of air and a lot of commotion. The caller told her: “She came back. She’s back. She’s breathing. It’s my daughter. She’s breathing.”
For the first time, the heroes honored during the 28th annual Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation awards ceremony included dispatchers. “In the past, we recognized heroes who are jumping off cliffs,” Hawai‘i Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said. “But there are the quiet rescues over the phone that can save a life.” Pacheco, fellow communications officer Allison Ford, and six others were recognized for their acts of heroism performed in 2024 during the foundation’s dinner and auction on Saturday night at the Fairmont Orchid in Waimea. More than 400 people were in attendance. Over the decades, this event has recognized the heroic rescues performed by members of the Hawai‘i Fire Department and the Hawaiʻi Police Department, while raising funds for the equipment and training needed for the first responders of the fire department to perform these rescues.
