Editorial: Sensible fireworks law is step forward

The Honolulu City Council measure called Bill 22 will not solve all the issues with fireworks used in household celebrations on Oahu. It certainly will not affect the core problem: the illegal aerials that cause fires, property damage and some very serious injuries, especially during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Its merit lies in the aim to focus the city’s enforcement efforts where they belong, on the pyrotechnics that cause the worst harm to the community at large. Aerials launched to significant heights land uncontrollably, and they are the most explosive fireworks when they’re lit, intentionally or otherwise.

Under the bill, most of the city’s regulatory framework would remain in place. This includes the overall ban on aerials for consumer use outside of professional displays, and the permits enabling those age 18 and up to buy firecrackers at retail outlets during set holiday periods.

However, the Council is expected to take up Bill 22 this month for its final reading. If passed, as it should be, ground-level fountains and sparklers — which now, like aerials, are not available for sale to consumers — could be sold to the public. The retailers must be licensed to sell them, but buyers don’t need a permit.

The bill also would allow retailers and other sites licensed to sell fireworks to issue consumer permits to buy firecrackers, instead of requiring the public to get their permit from the fire chief’s office. The retailer still would be accountable to follow permitting requirements, such as the restriction on permits for those under age 18.

This does add an enforcement mandate for the Honolulu Fire Department. City officials still would need to be on alert for reports of illicit permitting, and age of the applicant is not the only consideration. Location is also an issue.

The fire code affirms that “no permit shall be allowed at any location where the fire chief deems that use of the firecrackers will pose a threat to public health or safety.” In the wake of statewide concerns over wildfires, these are areas that may be of concern, and the fire department should define those for anyone who will be issuing permits.

In a June 27 presentation to the City Council, the fire department made it clear it opposes changes to the code under Bill 22, airing concern that increases in fireworks could increase the fire hazard. To underscore the change in public-safety policy, officials cited the launch of the Hawaiian Electric Co. Public Safety Power Shutoff Program, to prevent electrical sparking in areas at high wildfire risk.

Deputizing retailers to issue permits ideally would make the process more efficient, but that efficiency brings responsibility of oversight at points of sale. Among the other rational amendments, the bill also would allow for a site health-and-safety inspection by the department.

To bolster its defense of current restrictions, the fire department presented statistics showing a clear decline in fireworks-related fires after the initial enactment of Oahu’s fireworks ban in 2010 — incidents dropped by roughly two-thirds or more. Injuries showed similar reductions.

However, most consumer fireworks are available in other counties. Efforts to eliminate what are longstanding features of cultural celebrations in Hawaii front yards have been patchy, at best.

Since 2023, a state Department of Law Enforcement task force had seized about 200,000 pounds of illegal fireworks at the time of fire officials’ presentation to the Council in June. What makes sense is for tighter control of aerials, the most hazardous fireworks, through task-force efforts. And passing Bill 22 — to allow relatively low-risk celebratory consumer products such as sparklers — could ease resistance to Oahu’s all-out ban and be a reasonable next step.