In the first New Year’s celebration under Honolulu’s new fireworks law, Honolulu Fire Department dispatches for fireworks-related fires, medical emergencies and other incidents fell across the board — though perhaps not as much as fire officials had hoped.

The ban, approved by the City Council and signed into law by Mayor Kirk Caldwell last year, prohibits nearly all forms of fireworks except for firecrackers.

There were 234 calls between 8 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday, down from 274 over the same period last year but higher than the 2009 total of 207.

Fire dispatches dropped to 54 this year from 81 the previous year; medical calls to 158 from 165 last year.

According to initial HFD assessments, 22 of the 54 fire calls were probable fireworks-related fires compared with 36 (out of 81) over the same period last year. Last year, there were a total of seven structure fires reported, of which two were determined to be related to fireworks. This year, three structure fires were reported, none fireworks-related.

Of the 22 fires believed to be fireworks-related this year, 17 were rubbish or Dumpster fires, four brush fires and one "other."

HFD spokesperson Capt. Terry Seelig said that while the raw numbers show a decrease from last year’s totals, the difference "is not significant."

"It’s still much busier than a regular night," Seelig said. "We still had quite a few calls, which was on par with what we’ve seen in previous years. There were still a lot of fires probably related to fireworks. We were hoping that would change."

Seelig said the department responds to about 125 calls per day, including an average of 10 fire calls.

"So we’re dealing with about twice as many calls as usual," he said. "We’re one of the largest fire departments in the country, we have a lot of resources, and we have a lot of experience in moving those resources around to respond to multiple calls over a large area. However, when you’re dealing with short-duration events and a lot of personnel are going out on nuisance calls, you might not be able to respond to a bigger event should it come up. Yet, you have to respond to every small event because it could grow into something larger."

It what appears to be most serious incident, a man suffered "serious and life-threatening" injuries when an illegal aerial firework exploded.

The man was taken to the Kaneohe Fire Station, where firefighters treated him until paramedics arrived to take him to a hospital, according to Seelig.

Seelig said the man’s injuries were consistent with trauma caused by a large-caliber explosion.

Despite the ban, intermittent aerial fireworks were visible over neighborhoods across the island and acetylene balloon bombs and other homemade explosives could be heard booming throughout the evening.

Seelig said one holiday was not sufficient to judge the impact of the fireworks ban and said he hopes people would come to better understand the need for such measures.

"It might take people more time to realize that fireworks are a dangerous way to celebrate," Seelig said.