Posted on: Friday, January 3, 2003

Fee paid — but no fireworks

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Big Island officials said yesterday they will refund the $25 New Year's Eve firecracker permit fee until Jan. 10 for any resident who couldn't get firecrackers when dealers ran out.

But Honolulu officials said no refunds would be issued because the fee was used to cover processing costs. Refunds were specifically ruled out when the city set up administrative procedures for implementation of the law three years ago, they said.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the city posted signs warning of the no-refund policy at satellite city halls where permits were sold, and also advised buyers ahead of time that some dealers appeared to be running out.

"They knew it was a risky situation, and many of them told our clerks they knew where they could still get firecrackers," she said.

Big Island Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira, however, said it seemed only fair to refund the $25 fee if residents weren't able to use permits because dealers ran out. The department sold about 2,000 permits, and had issued about 60 refunds yesterday.

"In all good conscience, we couldn't see collecting the fee and having people unable to use the permit," Oliveira said.

By Monday, all but one Hilo-side vendor had run out of firecrackers, and even that dealer ran out by Tuesday morning, Oliveira said.

Mainland fireworks dealer Larry Lomaz of Pacific Fireworks said "we turned away over 300 people and many who had more than one permit" on O'ahu on New Year's Eve.

Some were infuriated with the no-refund policy.

"It's like taking money from someone who used it to purchase a product and say 'Oh, by the way, we regret to inform you that we are out of the product you purchased, but we'll take your money anyway, sucker,'" said transplanted Hawai'i resident Jason Chang of Fresno, Calif.

Maui didn't have to deal with refunds because officials there carefully monitored the dwindling supplies of firecrackers available as the holiday neared, Fire Prevention Capt. Neil Bell said.

There were two vendors on Maui, and the one that ran out of firecrackers last was across the street from the office where the firecracker permits were issued, Bell said.

Both Bell and Big Island Chief Oliveira said the permit system helped reduce the number of firecrackers being sold in their counties.

State Senate Majority Co-leader Cal Kawamoto criticized the permit system yesterday, saying it is being abused.

"Some people are buying 10 to 15 certificates each," said Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Pearl City). "That certainly was not the intent of the legislation."

And the American Lung Association Hawaii Chapter said it is time to consider extending permit requirements to all fireworks, including so-called "novelty" items which also produce smoke and create problems for people with asthma and other lung problems.

Program director John Hunter said regulation of firecrackers may be increasing smoke and noise created by other types of fireworks.

Donnie Gates, assistant chief for the city's Emergency Medical Services, said conditions seemed better, but paramedics responded to 186 alarms between 3 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, including 26 calls for respiratory cases, mostly smoke- or asthma-related problems created by fireworks.

There also were three fireworks-related burns, none of them serious, he said. In one, a 5-year-old Kalihi boy was burned when a neighbor's illegal aerial rocket came down on the boy's arm.

Neither of two major structure fires — a home in Kahala and one in Maunawili — involved fireworks, said Fire Department Capt. Kenison Tejada.

Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.