Kazuo Scott KuʻikaʻaleoPelepohākalani Leithead Todd’s name came from a dream.
Shortly after he was born, his mother, Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, got a call from a good friend who was a kahuna lāʻau lapaʻau, or Hawaiian healer.
“He said, ‘I had a dream. I have a name for your son … KuʻikaʻaleoPelepohākalani,’” Leithead Todd recalled. She said the name means “to strike around the wave of Pele and open the heavens.”
“It's a name for an eruption that occurs at night, and the glow of the lava that is put out from the earth pushes the darkness away. It lights up the sky,” she said, “and I feel like my son lived his life trying to live up to that gift of the dream name that was given to him.”
Kazuo S.K.L. Todd died unexpectedly on Dec. 14. He was 45 years old.
He spent 21 years with the Hawaiʻi County Fire Department, working tirelessly to make his home a safer place.
Early in his career, he worked as fire inspector ensuring that commercial kitchens were in compliance with fire safety codes. His mother said that position made him unpopular at some establishments.
“He would tell me which restaurants we couldn't go and eat at because he had made them do renovations that cost money to make them fireproof. There was one restaurant in particular, he says, ‘Oh, I can't eat there, Mom, they'll probably spit in my food,’” she said.
Leithead Todd said she was later approached in the store by that particular restaurant owner, who confessed that she had been angry that Todd caused her to spend several thousands on renovations to bring her kitchen up to code.
But when a recent fire broke out in her kitchen, she said those renovations saved her whole building from going up in flames. She asked Leithead Todd to pass on her thanks to her son.
“It was a validation for him of the fact that he'd done his job, and he'd say that he needed to do his job, because every fire he could prevent meant that people weren't at risk,” Leithead Todd said.
Stepping into leadership
Kazuo Todd was sworn in as chief of the Hawaiʻi Fire Department in April 2021. A little over three months later, a brushfire broke out near Waimea.
The blaze burned through more than 40,000 acres to become Hawaiʻi Island’s largest wildland fire on record. It triggered evacuations in three communities and claimed two homes.
Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Volpe said Todd handled this first major test of his leadership with aplomb.
“Watching him during that fire, you would never guess that like three months ago, he was working in a warehouse as a battalion chief,” Volpe said.
He said Todd was a natural public speaker and innately understood the public’s expectations of how he should handle himself in his role as chief.
“He just stepped right into it. That's what the public needed,” Volpe said.
Several of Todd’s colleagues and loved ones noted that he had the gift of the gab.
“He never minded standing up in front of an audience,” said Elizabeth Pickett, co-director of the Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization.
“He could be direct and to the point and just say the thing that was real, but also somehow not really offend people and make everybody laugh about hard truths.”
Those who worked with Todd described him as an innovative thinker who advocated for real progress on wildfire safety.
“He was definitely always pushing the envelope and looking for new ways to do things,” said Talmadge Magno, Hawaiʻi County’s Civil Defense administrator.
Interim Hawaiʻi County Police Chief Reed Mahuna said Todd seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of his field.
“At public meetings, I would just sit there and listen to him talk about fire safety and fire prevention, and just be so impressed about how well-prepared and knowledgeable he was on the subject matter,” Mahuna told HPR.
Behind the scenes, Todd demonstrated unique business acumen. Volpe said Todd aggressively pursued more funding and resources for the department and was able to increase their budget by $30 million.
“I'm pretty sure no previous fire chief increased their budget by 60% in four years. I think that's unheard of,” Volpe said.
Fire Department Chaplain Renee Godoy said Todd was “brilliant.”
“That man was a master at getting money. He was a master at doing research. Everyone who knows him will tell you that he was a nerd,” she said.
His mother, Bobby Jean, said Todd showed an aptitude for finances early on. He made his first budget when he was 7 years old.
“He calculated how many gifts he wanted to buy at Christmas, how much he wanted to spend on each gift, how soon he had to start saving his allowance to buy those gifts,” she said. “I was stunned.”
Kazuo worked hand-in-hand with the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation to get grants and donations for much-needed new equipment for the Fire Department.
Mayor Kimo Alameda said that as a result of Todd’s efforts and partnerships, he believes Hawaiʻi County has the best-equipped fire department in the state. He said every year of Todd’s four-year tenure as chief was “remarkable.”
“Every year was another record-setting year when it comes to the amount of ambulances, fire trucks, equipment that we got,” Alameda said.
Todd grew close with the Sayre Memorial Foundation’s founders, Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre, who said he was like “a second son” to them.
Mallery-Sayre said Todd never did anything halfway.
“He was an achiever, and if he was going to take on any task, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. And I think he did that with just about everything he did in life,” she said.
Frank Sayre said Todd had tremendous respect for his colleagues and took the time to recognize people who got overlooked.
Pickett, of the Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization, similarly said that Todd forged lasting friendships with many people in his department and across the field of fire safety.
“I don't think he believed that leadership required distance,” she said. “He paid attention to people's lives, and he remembered details, and he followed up. The last conversation we had, we made plans for my birthday.”
Todd’s ‘lasting legacy’
Within the Fire Department, Volpe said Todd demonstrated selflessness as a leader, even going so far as to give up his office — the largest in the building’s section — so that his staff could use it as a break room.
Volpe recalled the last time he saw Todd. The chief had just returned from a training in California, but made it a point to stop in for the department’s Christmas party.
“He came in because he knew how important it was to be present and to be grateful to the volunteers,” he said.
The day before he died, Todd attended a blessing for a new brushfire tanker truck in Kawaihae. Mallery-Sayre said that Todd took the microphone and thanked the many community members and volunteers who support the department.
“He said, ‘I feel so blessed to be your fire chief and to receive the kind of support that I received from you,’” Mallery-Sayre recalled.
Bobby Jean Leithead Todd said her son had plans to retire from the department after 25 years and go back to school to study architecture.
He had taken architectural drafting in high school and had been nominated for a Sterling Scholarship for Industrial Arts. His dream was to design affordable, fire-resistant homes.
“He kept saying, ‘We're not learning from our mistakes, Mom. We're building the same types of buildings that will burn. And we need to build safer communities,’” she said.
Leithead Todd said her family is going to be continuing her son’s work with the Sayre Foundation. And she’s hoping one of her grandkids might carry on Kazuo’s architectural dream.
“I'm in my 70s, I think I might be a little too old to become an architect, but I've got grandsons and a granddaughter,” she said.
“We're going to be talking about how they can change the world to make it better. And I hope that that's the lasting legacy.”
Todd is survived by his wife, Miko Todd, his daughter, his mother and father, and two siblings.
Members of the public are invited to join a memorial service on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.
Doors Open/Fellowship & Reflection: 12 p.m.
Formal Program Begins: 2 p.m.
"Community members, partners, friends, and ʻohana are welcome to come together in reflection, remembrance, and celebration of Chief Todd’s life and legacy. All are warmly invited and encouraged to attend. Additional information regarding logistics and ceremony details will be shared as plans are finalized."
