Friday is the deadline to purchase firecracker permits. Those on Oahu are required by law to have a valid permit before they can buy and set off firecrackers on New Year’s Eve.
But illegal fireworks — primarily aerials and loud, booming explosives, but also sparklers and fountains — are already being set off across the island, according to police, pet owners and concerned neighbors.
Police said they have received numerous reports of illegal fireworks over the last couple of weeks.
Officers issued 64 fireworks-related citations and made five fireworks-related arrests from Dec. 15, 2017, to Jan. 2. During the same period in 2016-2017, police issued 100 citations and arrested seven.
“While the number of fireworks-related injuries on Oahu is typically lower than elsewhere in the nation, even a single incident is one too many because it causes suffering, which is preventable,” said Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves.
On Dec. 31, 2000, an 80-year-old woman and her two dogs died in their Palolo home after aerial fireworks ignited boxes in the garage. Her body was discovered 12 hours after the 10:30 p.m. fire started.
FIREWORKS DISPLAYSFire officials urged Oahu residents to ring in the new year by attending one of the following public fireworks displays on New Year’s Eve:
>> Barge fronting Kahala Avenue, 10 p.m.
>> Hilton Hawaiian Village Lagoon, 10:30 p.m.
>> Kahala Resort & Hotel, midnight
>> Ko Olina Sites B & C, midnight
>> Barge offshore of Waikiki, midnight
>> Turtle Bay Resort, 11:59 p.m.
While illegal fireworks can be deadly to people, they are also a danger to pets that run away in fear from the loud noise and might be struck by vehicles.
Levon Kikila-Bardon, whose home is on 10 acres in Kahaluu, said illegal fireworks — “the aerials and the one that makes loud noise” — scared off her 7-year-old Shi Tzu-terrier mix, Sweeti, on Friday.
“Every year she goes crazy when the fireworks goes off, and she often goes to my sister’s house (next door), but she always finds her way home,” Kikila-Bardon said.
Not this time.
“She just lost it, I guess,” Kikila-Bardon said Tuesday. “She tried to hide and she never came back.”
She posted her missing dog’s photo on three websites: Paw Posse, Stolen Stuff Hawaii and the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Another woman posted Monday on Stolen Stuff Hawaii that her 10-month-old pup ran off at Rock Piles near Ala Moana due to the fireworks.
A Waipahu man posted that his neighbor’s Chihuahua was scared off on Sunday by fireworks.
And another man posted about finding a dog that walked into his yard in the Waipahu-Kunia area, apparently after fleeing from fireworks.
The Humane Society recommends keeping pets in a safe place indoors, microchipping them and having their current contact information on file with the Humane Society.
If possible, don’t leave pets outside and unattended, or consider keeping them in an enclosed garage.
