Mike Lambert heard fewer unlawful fireworks exploding in his suburban Honolulu neighborhood within the months after a series of blasts at a home get together final New 12 months’s Eve led to the deaths of six individuals, together with a 3-year-old boy.
Because the director of Hawaii’s Division of Regulation Enforcement, Lambert puzzled if the tragedy had sparked a shift in Hawaii residents’ penchant for igniting unlawful fireworks. In some neighborhoods, it might be widespread to listen to loud booms any time of day or night time — for sporting occasions, celebrations or no obvious cause in any respect.
However this yr, authorities are armed with stiffer legal guidelines created within the wake of the tragedy and can be giving out citations to offenders, Lambert warned.
“Now we have no delusions which you can have a tragedy New 12 months’s, you may signal a legislation in July after which not have something go off the next yr,” he stated. Nonetheless, he expects that some individuals will resolve to not set off fireworks, both due to final yr’s lethal accident or the stepped-up enforcement and new legal guidelines.
“Earlier than, you may 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 subject $300 tickets to those that shoot off fireworks, whereas repeat offenders and folks whose actions trigger severe damage or demise might get jail time for felony crimes.
Matayoshi stated he started engaged on laws the morning after the tragedy, which befell at a New 12 months’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 individuals with extreme burns.
“It affected me loads,” Matayoshi stated. “I couldn’t think about being the neighbor of somebody who had principally bombs of their home going off and hurting and killing my youngsters.”
Not one of the the 12 individuals arrested have been charged with a criminal offense. Honolulu police stated they’re working with prosecutors in searching for prices.
A hopeful signal was an amnesty occasion final month the place individuals 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 12 months’s Eve.
Firecrackers to ring within the new yr have lengthy been standard in Hawaii, however a few decade in the past, professional-grade aerials began turning into widespread.
“You’re seeing fireworks that have 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 ft aside, he stated.
Military veteran Simeon Rojas grew up on Oahu within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s and loved setting off firecrackers and lighting sparklers on New 12 months’s Eve. He considers fireworks a part of the native tradition and custom.
However when fireworks abruptly explode when he’s at dwelling 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 children on New 12 months’s Eve, so I really feel protected.”
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