Honolulu officials say anecdotally that there were fewer illegal fireworks set off on Oʻahu during the New Year's celebrations last week — and hope that the trend continues.
One year after the fireworks explosion in Āliamanu killed six people and injured about two dozen others, state lawmakers passed several laws aimed at deterring the use of illegal fireworks.
And just before New Year’s Eve, local officials urged the public not to use banned fireworks, while also warning the community about the new laws and increased enforcement.
Those appear to have worked, but it’s unclear if that will hold up in the future.
“I really don't think I’d be able to answer that. I guess we'd probably have to wait to see what happens next year and see if there is a trend,” said Honolulu Police Department Interim Deputy Chief Ryan Nishibun. “Hopefully people realize the severity of the risk that they're taking when they're playing with these types of aerial fireworks — or any kind of fireworks.”
Toward the end of 2025, HPD said fireworks-related calls dropped significantly.
From late November to just before New Year’s Eve, HPD said it received 232 of those calls. That’s just 18% of the number of calls it received during the same period in 2024.
During the six hours before and after midnight on New Year’s Day, Nishibun said there were 592 fireworks calls, which is actually a jump over the 295 calls made last year.
But he attributed that to the public being more willing to call for those aerials.
“I think that messaging got out there and more people took the responsibility to call in illegal fireworks,” Nishibun said.
Other first responders on Oʻahu said that there were fewer incidents related to the use of fireworks this year.
HPD and the state Department of Law Enforcement both used drones to enforce fireworks laws, which is one of the new regulations state lawmakers passed during the last legislative session.
Another measure strengthened fines for owning and setting off illegal fireworks. Repeat offenders and people whose actions cause serious injury or death could now get prison time for felony crimes.
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