Honolulu fireworks accident kills 3, injures more than 20: ‘worst possible war zone injuries’

• An accident involving fireworks killed three people and injured more than 20 in Honolulu on New Year’s Eve.
• Gov. Josh Green said he is considering whether new penalties, such as a felony for possessing large fireworks, are needed to curb fireworks in Hawaii.
• A fourth person was killed in a second fireworks explosion elsewhere on Oahu, officials said. At least four other serious injuries occurred overnight in unrelated fireworks accidents.

Emergency crews arrived at a chaotic and eerie scene in a Honolulu neighborhood after a large New Year’s firework display tipped over after being lit and ignited a fiery, shrapnel-riddled explosion that killed three people and injured more than 20 others, several critically.

Two women died at the scene of the crash and a third woman died in hospital, authorities said Wednesday as they urged people to abandon the New Year’s tradition of setting off fireworks across the city. Officials have promised tougher penalties for illegal fireworks.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green vividly described the deaths at a news conference Wednesday to highlight the potential danger of fireworks. “We’re talking about the worst possible war zone injuries that took their lives.”

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Some of the more than 20 people taken to hospitals with severe burns and shrapnel wounds included children, said the officials, who have not yet publicly identified the victims, including those killed.

Police are investigating whether charges against a person who set off fireworks near midnight are warranted, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Logan said.

The explosion occurred in a three-story building with a canopy in the lower part. Piles of debris, including bundles of blackened fireworks mortar, could be seen outside the house in daylight Wednesday.

The explosion shattered windows across the street. This happened when a lit bundle of aerial fireworks called a “cake” tipped over or fell off a table and was fired sideways into crates of extra fireworks, which then exploded.

The cake rounds could be separated, but they were lit as a bundle of 50 pieces, part of what officials said were tens of thousands of dollars worth of fireworks at the house.

Emergency crews arrived but had to perform triage — separating and treating the most seriously injured victims first — several houses away because of parked cars and congestion on the streets, said Honolulu EMS Director Dr. Jim Ireland.

Some people nearby continued to set off fireworks even as victims of the explosion were taken to hospitals, officials said.

The neighborhood is near Honolulu International Airport and a joint US Air Force and Navy base and just over 3 miles east of the USS Arizona Memorial, which honors sailors who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor which dragged the US into World War II.

“I’ve been in EMS for over 30 years and this is probably one of the worst calls I’ve ever been on in terms of the enormity of the tragedy, the number of patients and the severity of the injuries,” Ireland said at an earlier news conference.

A fourth person was killed in a second fireworks explosion elsewhere on Oahu, officials said. At least four other serious injuries occurred overnight in unrelated fireworks accidents.

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Social media posts overnight showed fireworks being set off in wide areas of Honolulu, although sprinklers, fountains and aerial fireworks are illegal and a permit is required to set off firecrackers, according to the Honolulu Fire Department.

“We are angry, frustrated and deeply saddened by this unnecessary loss of life and suffering. It’s a tragic way to start the new year,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “No one should have to suffer such pain because of reckless and illegal activity.”

Green said he is considering whether new penalties, including a felony for possession of large fireworks, are needed to limit fireworks in Hawaii.