Firefighters don’t want to add ambulance lights to the fireworks shows during the New Year’s season.
On Saturday, fireworks and the permits to possess them go on sale, and setting them off is allowed from 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 1 a.m. New Year’s Day.
Officials are urging people to celebrate responsibly.
“Having someone injured or killed as a result of using fireworks carelessly and recklessly will take all the fun out of the celebration very quickly,” is how Mike Matsui, fireworks auditor for the Hawaii Fire Department, put it.
The number of fires on the island during the season remained flat for two years, before jumping last year. There were five fires in 2012 and 2013, and 15 in 2014. Injuries also climbed. In 2012, there were seven, in 2013 there were 10 and in 2014 there were 15.
Matsui said many of the injuries and fires were the result of aerial devices, which are any firework that reaches above 12 feet. This includes such as sky lanterns, Hawaii Lanterns, bottle rockets, Roman candles, mortars and shells. Those have been illegal in Hawaii since 1994, along with “any firework that moves about on the ground more than a circle with a 12-inch radius,” he wrote.
“The Hawaii Fire Department humbly asks everyone to please kokua in helping us to prevent fires, and also to avoid the unnecessary injuries caused by fireworks each year,” the department said in a press release.
Users should be careful when setting off fireworks, particularly with keiki, the department wrote, who should be under close adult supervision whenever they are using fireworks.
Fireworks and their flares of light can ignite blazes. To prevent that, the department said to use them in an area well away from dry grass or flammable materials. It can be easy to be casual with an expended firework. But it still can ignite, and the department advises making sure it is completely extinguished.
In the chance a fire does start, the department said there should be a fire extinguisher or a hose nearby.
Permits are necessary to fire off any fireworks on the Big Island. Each one costs $25 and entitles the holder to purchase 5,000 individual firecrackers. Only those 18 and older can purchase permits, and multiple permits can be purchased. Permits cannot be transferred or refunded.
There are two locations on the island where the permits are offered:
• 10 a.m.-4 p.m. until New Year’s Eve at the Parker Ranch Shopping Center Food Court in Waimea.
• 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Thursday next week at the West Hawaii Civic Center, on the second floor of Building E.
Some vendors also will sell permits.
Permits are not necessary for novelties and paperless fireworks.
Fire Chief Darren Rosario said in a press release that he would like to remind the public it is illegal to remove the pyrotechnic contents from a firework, throw fireworks from, at or into a vehicle and set off fireworks outside the limited times or near certain areas. Those include within 1,000 feet of any hospital, convalescent home, care home for the elderly, zoo, animal hospital or shelter, or church while services are being conducted.
It’s also illegal to use fireworks on school property without authorization from school officials. Public roadways and sidewalks also are off-limits.
Email Graham Milldrum at gmilldrum@westhawaiitoday.com.
