One errant spark
Some details have been lost to the decades, but we remember it was a sunny Saturday afternoon and we were driving toward Kihei on two-lane Mokulele Highway when the fireworks started.
The explosions beyond Maui Raceway Park appeared to be coming from the cement plant. What else was out in the kiawe and sugar cane? By the time we reached the area, booms had given way to bursts of firecrackers and an occasional rocket whistling into the air. Ignited by the blasts, a brush fire raced downwind.
The cause of the ruckus turned out to be a container’s worth of confiscated illegal fireworks being disposed of by authorities at the bottom of a deep quarry. In hindsight, those authorities regretted their decision to blow everything up at once. The sound of explosions was reported as far away as Maui Meadows.
While their execution may have needed refinement, at least they were doing something to address the problem of illegal fireworks. Imagine if all the aerials set off on Maui over the past two months were confiscated and blown up at one time? The resulting crater could rival the one at the summit of Haleakala.
In our neighborhood, rockets started flying before Thanksgiving, peaked in a New Year’s Eve show rivaling something you might see in Las Vegas and continue to shatter the air about twice a night. These aerial bombardments used to be concentrated in certain regions of the island. Now they are everywhere.
Those who grew up with fireworks ringing in the New Year may relish or at least lovingly tolerate them. For others, it is harder to get past the traumatized pets, smoke-filled air, falling debris and unexpected jolts to the nervous system.
Love or hate fireworks, we all can agree that illegal aerials have surged in the past few years. It boggles the mind how much money is spent on the pyrotechnics that rattle windows and trigger car alarms down the street.
The million-dollar question is: how can such obvious violations go unregulated? Our police are either unable or unwilling to arrest violators. They say it is difficult to catch culprits in the act. Residents who wish to stem the tide must be ready to inform on and testify against their neighbors.
Targeting the supply chain seems the most viable path to enforcement. Where are these illegal fireworks coming from? Who is storing and distributing them? It stands to reason they are either being smuggled in shipping containers or manufactured here. Dogs trained to sniff out munitions, like those used by the Transportation Safety Administration at Kahului Airport, could help interdict illegal shipments at the harbor or identify homegrown operations.
Left unchecked, the dangers go beyond the chances of blown-off hands, burned-down homes and dead or blinded children. One errant spark could lead to a container ship being sunk by fire or a neighborhood wiped from the map.