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Authorities mentioned that among the more than 20 individuals who were rushed to hospitals due to severe burns and shrapnel wounds were also children. However, officials have not yet released any public information identifying the victims, including those who lost their lives in the incident.
Police were investigating whether charges for the person who lit the firework near midnight were warranted, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Logan said.
The explosion occurred at a three-story residence with a carport on the ground floor. The aftermath of the blast revealed heaps of debris, including stacks of charred firework mortars, visibly present in front of the house as daylight broke on Wednesday.
A view of the home where a New Year’s Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people on Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
The impact of the blast shattered windows across the nearby street. Reports indicate that the explosion transpired when a ignited bundle of aerial fireworks known as a “cake” accidentally tipped over or slipped from a table, subsequently shooting sideways into containers holding more fireworks, leading to their detonation.
The cake’s rounds could be separated but had been lit as a bundle of 50, part of what officials said was tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of fireworks at the home.
Ambulance crews arrived but had to triage — separate and treat victims with the worst injuries first — several houses away because of parked cars and crowds on the streets, Honolulu Emergency Services Department Director Dr. Jim Ireland said.
Some people nearby continued setting off fireworks even as blast victims were being taken to hospitals, officials said.
The neighborhood is near Honolulu’s international airport and a joint U.S. Air Force and Navy base and a little more than 2 miles east of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, which honors sailors who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II.
“I’ve been in EMS over 30 years and this is probably one of the worst calls I’ve ever been on as far as the immense tragedy and amount of patients and severity of the injuries,” Ireland said in an earlier news conference.
A fourth person was killed in a different fireworks explosion elsewhere on Oahu, officials said. At least four other serious injuries occurred in unrelated fireworks accidents overnight.
Social media posts overnight showed fireworks being set off across wide areas of Honolulu even though sparklers, fountains and aerial fireworks are illegal and a permit is required to set off firecrackers, according to the Honolulu Fire Department.
“We’re angry, frustrated and deeply saddened at this unnecessary loss of life and suffering. It’s a tragic way to start the new year,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said. “No one should have to endure such pain due to a reckless and illegal activity.”
Green said he was looking into whether new penalties including a felony charge for possessing large fireworks are needed to curtail fireworks in Hawaii.
