A Big Island volunteer firefighter who was injured in 2021 while battling a long-burning underground fire in Ka‘u has filed a lawsuit against the department and three ranking individuals.
The complaint filed in September names the Hawaii County Fire Department, Chief Kazuo Todd, Deputy Fire Chief Eric Moller, Capt. Kaaina Keawe and seven John Doe entities as defendants.
Stabo’s ordeal started on her birthday, Sept. 3, 2021. As she was finishing up work that day at Sustainable Bioresources, she said she got the call to respond to a brush fire in Ka‘u. As a 10-year volunteer firefighter out of Na‘alehu, she left her job as well as plans for a birthday celebration, and met up with her captain at the station before the two headed out to yet another flare-up of a fire that had been burning underground for five months at Honu‘apo.
“It was really no different than any other brush fire,” she recalled in a 2021 interview with West Hawaii Today. “The difference being it was underground. We were mopping up and everything was looking pretty good. We noticed a little flare-up and the captain on duty asked if I could help him.”
Stabo said Keawe was about 5 feet behind her as they were pulling the hose toward the flare-up. As they neared the flames, she fell waist-deep into a burning hole.
“It was like a trapdoor I stepped on. There was no rhyme, no reason, nothing there to tell you there was a problem. As soon as I hit that spot, I went straight down. I was trapped. It was like quicksand,” she said. “I couldn’t move. I screamed. Thank God for the captain behind me. I was probably in there 40 seconds or so when he pulled me out.”
Stabo said Keawe put her on his back and carried her back to the road to an awaiting ambulance. She was quickly transported to Ka‘u Hospital and then flown to Honolulu for care at Straub Medical Center.
“I don’t remember anything after that for about three or four days,” she said
Stabo suffered third-degree burns from her knee down on her right leg, as well as to her buttocks, and second-degree burns on her left leg.
The complaint alleges the defendants knew that the Ka’u brush fire continued to burn underground where it could not be easily seen. It also claims Stabo was unaware and was never informed by the defendants, although they knew of the serious risk and danger, that the Ka’u brush fire was burning underground in the area she was responding.
It also states Todd and Moller knew about the danger of the underground fires’ burning in Ka‘u where Stabo responded to the brush fire, but none of the defendants informed or notified her of the known and substantial danger of the Ka‘u underground fire and fire pits.
Prior to Stabo falling in the underground fire pit, there were reports of at least three to four burn injuries suffered by members of the public in this area due to the underground fires that the complaint alleges the defendants were aware of.
As a result of the falling into the underground fire pit, Stabo sustained extremely serious injuries, both physical and emotional, that are still being treated and are not yet stabilized or resolved.
The complaint claims misconduct in the form of negligence, extreme carelessness, recklessness and wantonness on the part of the defendants with demand for a jury trial and an unspecified award of punitive damages. A trial date has not been set.
Hawaii County Corporation Counsel and Stabo’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment as of press time Tuesday.