A 23-year veteran fire captain is alleging retaliation for speaking out in December that the death of a woman whom he carried out of a burning house could have been prevented had several critical errors not been made by the Hono­lulu Fire Department.

Attorney Venetia Carpenter-Asui filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of Capt. George K. Ka­opu­iki against HFD and Hono­lulu Fire Chief Kenneth Silva in which he alleges a violation of his free-speech rights and violation of the Hawaii Whistleblowers’ Protection Act.

The complaint, filed in Circuit Court, says Ka­opu­iki verbally reported that fire personnel made numerous serious mistakes that could have caused the death of the woman from a fire at her single-family home.

The mistakes include not hooking up to a fire hydrant to ensure an ample water supply, and not starting a rescue search sooner because a sufficient water supply had not been secured early on, Ka­opu­iki told five fire captains and an acting battalion chief during a December meeting.

Capt. Gary Lum declined to comment because the department has not seen the lawsuit.

Fire personnel did not call Emergency Medical Services for 19 minutes after Ka­opu­iki carried the woman out of the fire, alive and breathing, he said at the meeting. He blamed the department’s lack of training for the errors.

"Acting Battalion Chief Mark Naka­gawa cautioned everyone pres­ent, ‘This is an internal meeting. This information stays in-house with lessons learned,’" the lawsuit said.

The suit alleges Ka­opu­iki was retaliated against when he was subjected to an investigation Jan. 16 for false allegations of mistreating a firefighter at the Kakaako station, which he was told was at the direction of Silva. That firefighter told Ka­opu­iki he never made a complaint against him.

Kaopuiki alleges he was retaliated against by being subjected to investigations based on false allegations, being suspended and being transferred, which resulted in loss of pay.

Kaopuiki is on leave and has filed a workers’ compensation claim for work-related stress due to the investigations on him and the increasing retaliation, his attorney said in a written statement.

Kaopuiki said he was reprimanded and warned for writing a 2008 memorandum to an assistant chief about a firefighter who created a safety hazard by taking an unreasonably long time to respond to emergency calls, being unable to drive the firetruck into a correct position to raise a ladder in an emergency situation and being unable to provide medical emergency care.

Carpenter-Asui said, "Fire Capt. Ka­opu­iki repeatedly attempted to resolve this matter with the HFD to no avail, and now finds himself in a position where he has no other recourse than to invoke his legal rights."