A 23-year veteran of the Honolulu Fire Department (HI) alleges he was retaliated against for speaking out about a fatal fire, reports KHON 2 (http://bit.ly/LevT1Q). He has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the City and County of Honolulu.
A 77-year-old woman was trapped in a house fire last December. She was rescued by firefighters but later died, and the firefighter claims the fatality could have been avoided.
KITV News 4 (http://bit.ly/JKiDjZ) details the following as errors on scene, claimed by the firefighter:
- Not hooking up to the fire hydrant to ensure an ample water supply
- Not initiating rescue search as soon as they could have if the water supply had been sufficiently ensured early on.
- EMS was not contacted for 19 minutes after the removal of the fire victim who was alive and breathing when Kaopuiki carried her out of the burning residence.
- The reasons these and other similar incidents are occurring is HFD’s lack of training.
The news outlet reports that the firefighter claims he took these claims up the chain of command and was then retaliated against by being subjected to false investigations, suspension and transferred which resulted in a loss of pay.
The Honolulu Fire Department has no comment at this time.
