Mike Lambert heard fewer unlawful fireworks exploding in his suburban Honolulu neighborhood within the months after a series of blasts at a home celebration final New Yr’s Eve led to the deaths of six folks, together with a 3-year-old boy.
Because the director of Hawaii’s Division of Regulation Enforcement, Lambert questioned if the tragedy had sparked a shift in Hawaii residents’ penchant for igniting unlawful fireworks. In some neighborhoods, it could be frequent to listen to loud booms any time of day or evening — for sporting occasions, celebrations or no obvious cause in any respect.
However this 12 months, authorities are armed with stiffer legal guidelines created within the wake of the tragedy and shall be giving out citations to offenders, Lambert warned.
“Now we have no delusions that you would be able to have a tragedy New Yr’s, you may signal a legislation in July after which not have something go off the next 12 months,” he stated. Nonetheless, he expects that some folks will resolve to not set off fireworks, both due to final 12 months’s lethal accident or the stepped-up enforcement and new legal guidelines.
“Earlier than, you would shoot it off with impunity,” stated state Rep. Scot Matayoshi, who authored two of the 5 anti-fireworks payments. “Everybody knew they weren’t going to bust you.”
Police can now difficulty $300 tickets to those that shoot off fireworks, whereas repeat offenders and other people whose actions trigger critical damage or demise may get jail time for felony crimes.
Matayoshi stated he started engaged on laws the morning after the tragedy, which befell at a New Yr’s Eve 2025 celebration when crates of unlawful fireworks tipped over and ignited within the Aliamanu neighborhood, illuminating the sky in a terrifying set of explosions that left greater than a dozen folks with extreme burns.
“It affected me lots,” Matayoshi stated. “I couldn’t think about being the neighbor of somebody who had mainly bombs of their home going off and hurting and killing my children.”
Not one of the the 12 folks arrested have been charged with a criminal offense. Honolulu police stated they’re working with prosecutors in in search of prices.
A hopeful signal was an amnesty occasion final month the place folks turned in 500 kilos (227 kilograms) of unlawful fireworks, Lambert stated. His division has additionally elevated searches in any respect ports, noting that unlawful fireworks shipped to Hawaii typically have ties to organized crime.
As of earlier this month, Honolulu police stated officers had issued 10 fireworks citations. Matayoshi stated the quantity is an enchancment from zero in previous years. He expects it to leap dramatically on New Yr’s Eve.
Firecrackers to ring within the new 12 months have lengthy been common in Hawaii, however a couple of decade in the past, professional-grade aerials began turning into frequent.
“You’re seeing fireworks that had been meant to be let off at like stadium and lodge occasions,” Lambert stated. These pyrotechnics have a 900-foot (274-meter) blast radius, however are exploding in tightly packed neighborhoods the place properties are sometimes just some toes aside, he stated.
Military veteran Simeon Rojas grew up on Oahu within the Eighties and ’90s and loved setting off firecrackers and lighting sparklers on New Yr’s Eve. He considers fireworks a part of the native tradition and custom.
However when fireworks all of the sudden explode when he’s at residence in Honolulu’s Kalihi Valley, “it does rock my coronary heart,” he stated. It additionally triggers his post-traumatic stress dysfunction from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It provides me flashbacks,” he stated. “I stick with my spouse and youngsters on New Yr’s Eve, so I really feel secure.”
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