Fewer fires this year from fireworks

The HFD blames the illegal aerial versions of the isle tradition for igniting blazes

Illegal aerial fireworks colored Oahu's sky on New Year's Eve, but fortunately caused fewer fires this year, Honolulu Fire Department officials said yesterday.

"It was much better than the last few years, but it's still not good enough. We want it where there are no fireworks-related fires," said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Kenison Tejada.

And the fire department believes the best way to prevent further injuries is to ban fireworks completely, leaving fireworks shows to the professionals, he said.

"It looks like maybe one of the biggest weapons against illegals may be a total ban on fireworks," Tejada said. "We're still introducing legislation. We understand it's Hawaii. It's going to be a slow process. Hopefully it's a process that will move us toward a safer end for everybody."

While the total number of fires on New Year's Day was still being tallied last night, there were 161 fires from Dec. 30 to 9 p.m. yesterday, with 71 believed to be related to fireworks, according to fire officials. By comparison, from Dec. 30, 2005, through Jan. 1, 2006, there were 200 total fires, 83 of which were fireworks-related.

But yesterday still was a busy day for the fire department.

A brush fire in Maili burned roughly 40 acres before firefighters extinguished the blaze about three hours after the 1:09 p.m. call. Then firefighters headed to a five-acre fire behind Makaha Elementary, extinguishing it by 6:15 p.m. Firefighters determined both blazes to be fireworks-related. There were 24 other brush fires around the island yesterday.

On Sunday, there were 23 brush fires, mostly on the dry leeward side of the island. Sunday's largest brush fire, which didn't threaten any structures, burned five acres in Makaha.

"It was kind of a good day (Sunday)," said Tejada. "But we still know that some of the fires were fireworks-related. What we saw (Sunday) is the fireworks that travel are the ones that give us the most problems -- jumping jacks or aerials. ... There's a lot of aerials all over the place and those are really dangerous."

There were three known burn cases on New Year's Eve, two of them minor that were fireworks-related and the third requiring a trip to Castle Hospital. It was unknown whether the third injury was fireworks-related, a Honolulu Emergency Medical Services spokesperson said.

"We're really thankful for that (small number)," Tejada said. "We think that people are being more responsible."

A supervisor at the Queen's Medical Center said the emergency room traffic on New Year's Eve remained normal with few, if any, fireworks-related injuries.

Rain on Thursday and Friday moistened the grass and brush, which also helped to keep the brush fires down, Tejada said.

"One of the things that we're thankful for is that we didn't have any building loss," he added.

The only building fire believed to be related to fireworks was at Kuhio Park Terrace, but it didn't cause any damage.

Fireworks permit sales were down, with 9,232 sold by Dec. 28, compared to 10,317 a year ago.

Firefighters fought 42 percent fewer fires on New Year's Eve than they did on the same day a year ago. Emergency incidents called into the fire department numbered 276 between Dec. 30 and 8 a.m. yesterday, a figure that dropped from 472 from Dec. 30 to the end of Jan. 1 last year.