Magic Island fireworks stalled by misfired shell
| • | Everybody loves a parade in Kailua, U.S.A. |
By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer
The 60,000 people who turned out last night for Ala Moana Center's fireworks show wound up with a three-part performance when a misfire forced workers to delay the program twice.
Workers for Pyro Spectaculars, the Rialto, Calif.-based company staging the show from a launching point on Magic Island, stopped the show just 10 minutes after it began when a large shell misfired and exploded on the ground, said Dexter Suzuki, marketing director for the center.
No one was injured, he said, but the explosion disconnected one of the electrical terminal boxes.
Workers paused for safety reasons and resumed after 10 minutes, firing the unexploded shells remaining in the launching cannons. The second delay was to rewire the remaining shells.
"They rewired half of the show in about 30 minutes," said Tiffany Horvath, a public relations consultant for the sponsoring center.
Capt. Richard Soo of the Honolulu Fire Department said some unfired shells were to be dismantled this morning. He noted that an ambulance called to the scene was for an onlooker suffering from asthma.
"Whatever happened didn't endanger the public," he said
Meanwhile, firefighters hustled from hillsides to canyons to douse many small fires that occurred, not coincidentally, on a day when front-yard fun often started with the click of a lighter.
As of 9:30 p.m., there were no reports of structure fires or personal injuries that were fireworks related.
The holiday's temperature reached a high of 88 degrees, and grasses remained dry. That led to what Soo called a rash of brushfires.
By 9:15 p.m., O'ahu firefighters could count at least 15 brushfires, from a burn that forced the temporary closure of Old Farrington Highway near Waipahu to a 4-acre blaze in the Royal Kunia area that required five engine companies to control.
A dinnertime fire in a bushy canyon below Hi'ikua Place in Mililani briefly appeared to threaten homes before firefighters halted its advance.
"It got a little scary," said Soo.
Two more companies were called to a blaze that began at dusk between 'Aiea Heights and Camp Smith.
Soo said battalion chiefs he queried last night had little doubt that some of the fires were related to fireworks, but they also reported less activity with illegal aerial rockets than in past celebrations.
"The true test for that will be at New Year's," he said.
On the Big Island, firefighters battled two fires. One burned at least 15 acres in the Puna district, and another charred up to 10 acres in the Ka'u district.
"We don't know if they're fireworks-related," said Battalion Chief Bobby Kendrick. "We haven't determined that yet."
