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Consumer fireworks ban
is needed for safety

THE ISSUE Fireworks from Independence Day festivities caused numerous fires on Oahu and may have left 36 Waipahu residents homeless.

HAWAII'S rainy winter provided an abundance of tinder, sapped of moisture by a dry beginning of the month, making it easy for pyrotechnics to ignite a dangerous and destructive Fourth of July. Firefighters were forced to work to their limit because of a state fire prevention policy that amounts to "pray for rain."

Fireworks ought to be limited to public displays orchestrated by professionals to ensure adequate safety on those occasions when the state celebrates independence and a new year. Hawaii should join six other states that now ban consumer fireworks.

More than 80 percent of Monday's 101 brush fires, 16 rubbish fires and six other fires on Oahu were caused by fireworks, according to the Honolulu Fire Department. A brush fire Tuesday, possibly caused by leftover fireworks, turned a Waipahu apartment building into ashes and left three dozen people homeless.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported. However, an 80-year-old Palolo woman died as a result of New Year's festivities three years ago, and ordnance-grade explosives camouflaged by milder fireworks shot a hole through the left hand of 11-year-old Cydnee Somera of Aiea shortly after midnight on Jan. 1 of this year. Future casualties are a given unless private use of the little bombs and sparklers is prohibited.

From 1997 through 2001 -- the most recent five-year total on record -- eight people across the country were killed in fires started by fireworks, and an average of seven people a year were killed directly by fireworks. Last year, nearly 9,600 injuries caused by fireworks were treated in the nation's hospital emergency rooms.

The 1998 New Year's Eve celebration was described as "utter madness" by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano, who was joined by the Honolulu Police and Fire departments in calling for a consumer fireworks ban. Past Star-Bulletin polls show that most Oahu residents agree.

Twenty health and safety advocacy groups joined the National Fire Protection Association last month in calling for an end to consumer use of fireworks during the holiday season to prevent the maiming of thousands of people, mostly children.

"We know that sparklers cause the greatest amount of injury, especially among young children, followed by fireworks," said Jon Mark Hirshon, of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a member of the Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks. "The toll of these injuries on a person's quality of life is immeasurable."

A law that took effect in 2000 requires permits for firecrackers and increased penalties for possession of illegal fireworks such as rockets and thunderous M-80s, simulating mortar rounds. The feeble restrictions leave at risk many residents with asthma and other health problems.

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