City to pay $5M to settle lawsuit over firefighter’s death
Published: Mar. 19, 2019 at 5:30 PM HST
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The city will pay more than $5 million to settle a lawsuit in the death of a Honolulu firefighter who died in a training exercise three years ago.
Honolulu firefighter Cliff Rigsbee, 63, was training in waters off Diamond Head when he got into trouble.
Following the death, the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division slapped the Honolulu Fire Department with a $15,000 fine.
According to the division’s report, HFD failed to identify, evaluate or control workplace hazards ― and also failed to replace the ignition key lanyard to the Jet Ski that was towing Rigsbee.
The fire department says it has since made changes to its training program and equipment.
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