Aerial Fireworks debris damages Campbell High School field
By Cynthia Yip
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EWA BEACH, Hawaii (KITV) — New Year’s Day is a time for starting anew — and it always starts out with a bang. We know all too well how the skies over Hawaii light up with fireworks. Always a spectacular showing, but many times done with illegal pyrotechnics.
Aerial fireworks are not only illegal they can also caused damage, as they did to the 3 million dollar brand new softball and baseball field at Campbell High School.
The damage happened when an aerial firework debris landed on the field in the early December. Senator Kurt Fevella says he and community members have been working hard to build this field of dreams for the Campbell Sabers.
Sen. Kurt Fevella says, “They blow them all year long in this neighborhood, and I know they have this problem in Waipahu not just ewa beach, but it’s just getting out of hand.”
KITV4 talked with people who set off aerial fireworks, who want to be anonymous. They say it is an Island Tradition that symbolizes celebration and– scares away evil spirits.
But, this tradition can be expensive, costing up to $5,000 each New Year. US Coast Guard inspectors recovered more than 13,000 pounds of illegal fireworks on a cargo ship during a training exercise in partnership with state and federal agencies. Senator Fevella says he and other legislators will continue to work on a law that will strengthen enforcement at the port.
Sen. Karl Rhoads says, “There are so many containers coming in every year 96 percent come in with these shipping containers. You can’t check them all — it would be prohibitively expensive and physically impossible. And all the other goods that we need. There are a number of practical problems that would make checking every single one impossible. But if we check enough and catch more people like we caught in the late fall the hopefully that changes the calculus for people who are importing.”
The legislature did raise the maximum penalty for possessing illegal fireworks over 25 pounds from $2,000 to $5,000.
But Senator Fevalla says it is difficult to catch people setting off those fireworks.
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