Even so, Donnie Gates, assistant chief for the city's Emergency Medical Services, said a lower-than-usual amount of fireworks activity created a surprisingly pleasant New Year's Eve.

Paramedics responded to 186 alarms between 3 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. yesterday, Gates said today.

"Our call volume was very, very heavy, but nothing very significant, just small things," he said. "Usually by 10:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve, we are just smashed and the city is covered with a blanket of smoke."

Not this year.

"It was really nice out there," Gates said. "People are a lot mellower without the fireworks."

Included were 26 calls for respiratory cases, mostly smoke- or asthma-related problems created by fireworks in the air, Gates said.

Also included were three fireworks-related burns, none of them serious, he said. One included a 5-year-old boy in the 3200 block of Kalihi Street whose neighbor launched aerial fireworks that came down on the boy's arm, Gates said.

In addition to those, paramedics treated 22 lesser, fireworks-related injuries.

On the highways, paramedics responded to 28 traffic accidents. The only serious case involved a 23-year-old woman who had to be airlifted from Kaukonahua Road to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition. She was in fair condition today.

Paramedics also responded to police calls on 31 assault cases. Again, nothing serious, Gates said.

Gates typically drives around O'ahu on New Year's Eve to see what his paramedics are facing. That's what he did Tuesday.

Smoke was thickest in Wahiawa, he said. As he made his way into Waikiki, he found nothing similar to previous years.

"And traffic was remarkably light," he said. "I was totally stunned by how little traffic there was out there. It was almost eerie. I must say, it was very pleasant."