Oahu officials held a press conference Monday afternoon to urge residents not to use illegal fireworks, listing the potential consequences and emphasizing the strong enforcement measures police will take on New Year’s Eve.
It has been almost a year since a massive fireworks explosion in the Aliamanu neighborhood on Oahu killed six people, including a 3-year-old boy and injured more than a dozen others, and officials highlighted how this devastating event had impacted emergency responders, lawmakers, and Oahu residents.
“We had a family that was just obliterated,” said Mike Lambert, the director of the Department of Law Enforcement, about the victims of last year’s tragedy. “To me, this hits home, because one of the victims was three years old, the same age as my daughter. I just celebrated my daughter’s fourth birthday, and I got to enjoy her blowing a candle — that family had that taken from them because they made the poor decision to celebrate with fireworks.”…