Illegal aerials lit up the sky on New Year’s Eve, but fortunately there were no serious injuries or damage on Oahu.

“It was an amazing display, our area [Pearl City], always has an amazing display but it really manifest itself around 11:30 p.m., and that’s when it’s the best display,” said Pearl City resident Kaua Kwan.

“It was very exciting to see too, it almost brought me back to Disneyland,” he said.

The Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Department says it responded to four fireworks related injuries, 39 calls for difficulty breathing, 21 assaults and 23 motor vehicle collisions.

A 2-year-old boy in Kaneohe was treated after reportedly getting “pop-pop” dust in his eyes. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition around 10 p.m. Dec. 31.

Around 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 1, a 37-year-old female was transported to the hospital for injuries to the back of her neck.

An hour later, a 29-year-old male was transported in serious condition to a trauma center for an apparent injury to his hand.

In Ewa Beach, a 19-year-old male was transported in stable condition for apparent injuries to his face to a trauma center.

“Nobody plans for those things to go wrong but it does, and with fireworks it’s so unpredictable,” said Honolulu Fire Department Captain Scot Seguirant.

The Honolulu Fire Department says it responded to multiple calls from 8 a.m. New Year’s Eve to 7 a.m. New Year’s Day.

There were three brush fire calls, five rubbish fire calls and a dumpster fire.

“As far as responses and calls that we had, it was better [than last year]. As far as illegal fireworks, it was maybe about the same, not so good,” said Capt. Seguirant.



According to the Honolulu Police arrest logs, there were 17 DUI’s between 10 p.m. Dec. 31, and 5:30 a.m. Jan. 1.

As the holiday season comes to an end, HFD warns against using leftover fireworks

“It’s over, it’s a new year now, the time for that is over so just respect your neighbors, be safe, minimize the opportunity for something to go wrong,” Capt. Seguirant said.

Courtesy: Terry Reis

The Maui Fire Department responded to 12 fire-related calls from 3 p.m. Monday to 3 p.m. Tuesday. MFD says there were eight rubbish fires, three small brush fires, and one vehicle fire.

“Of these fires, four of them could be directly attributed to either firework use or the disposal of fireworks that were still smoldering,” said Rylan Yatsushiro, Maui Fire Services Chief PIO.

He says one of the fires could have caused a lot of damage.

At 1:26 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 1, Maui firefighters responded to the Royal Mauian in Kihei where there was smoke reported in one of the stairwells.

Fire crews found a box of spent fireworks which was on fire in a trash chute closet on the 5th floor of the apartment building.

Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire and confirm there was no further fire extension in the trash chute and basement dumpster. Damage estimates for these reported fires are unavailable at this time.

On Kauai, there were two small brush fires Monday night.

Kauai officials say there was one in Anahola and one in Waimea. Both were quickly extinguished once firefighters arrived on scene.

No injuries and no structures were damaged.