Injuries and deaths due to fireworks over the New Year’s holiday in Hawaiʻi surged to a 14-year high — and that’s before adding in the catastrophic explosion in Honolulu’s Salt Lake neighborhood.
Emergency rooms and hospitals in Hawaiʻi treated 110 individuals between Dec. 31, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, including five fatalities, the highest since 2010, when there were 112 injuries.
The state Department of Health collects reports from Hawaiʻi hospitals of fireworks injuries over the New Year period; it supplied the data to Civil Beat upon request. The state does not collect reports at other times of the year, such as Independence Day or Chinese New Year. Deaths are included in the injury tallies…