By Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin
Darlyn Tsukayama stocks up for New Year's Eve with
an armful of fireworks she bought at a Discount
Fireworks Co. stand in the Dillingham area.
The Manoa woman was among many who rushed to stores Tuesday to buy fireworks as soon as they went on sale, shelling out $200 for a pyrotechnic arsenal that included five 10,000 strings and a couple of 20,000 packs. And yesterday morning she hung around the Kmart at Iwilei long enough to win one of the 100,000 strings being given away during half-hour drawings.
"I wanted to win it for my husband," an excited Ching said. "We like to burn fireworks."
So apparently do other Oahu residents, and stores have stocked up for the demand. Even so, managers say sales have been brisk and many expect their inventories will be depleted well before the final countdown to 1997 begins.
"Awesome is the word, they're flying out the door," said Brett Petersen, a manager at the Iwilei Kmart, which stocked twice as many fireworks as last year.
"I would think we have enough for two or three days, but we'll sell out before the 31st, that's for sure. I mean, it's a madhouse."
Residents and businesses are responding to shortages seen last year, the first year that a new statewide law standardized fireworks rules in the islands and made it simpler for Oahuans to legally set off the long strings of red-papered firecrackers.
Under the previous law - which officials said was hard to enforce and frequently ignored - Honolulu residents needed a permit before putting match to fuse, and were restricted to 500 firecrackers each. Now no permit is needed and the limit has been lifted.
Daiei Inc., which was selling a 100,000 string for about $60, said there were lines of customers waiting for its stores to open on Tuesday. Since then "we've had a fairly large crowd coming in and out" steadily, said Ron Watabayashi, the retail chain's general affairs manager.
The company tripled its stock over last year in anticipation of the demand and still expects to sell out, he said.
Current supplies, though, were described as healthy, as well as the competition between stores.
"It is kind of competitive, but there's such a large market out there," Watabayashi said. "I think there's more demand than there probably is inventory right now."
Figures from the Honolulu Fire Department support the notion that merchants see a lucrative fireworks market.
"It's quite a noticeable increase," said acting Capt. Richard Soo. "What goes along with that is a noticeable increase of the fireworks product out there for the consumer to buy."
Among the newcomers is City Mill, which is selling fireworks for the first time this year - a move its Pearl City store's acting manager says was a good business decision.
"The first day, our sale on the fireworks was really great," exclaimed Bernie Clement. "People were just lined up. People were buying by the cases, just like there was no tomorrow."
Extra firefighters and equipment will be mobilized on New Year's Eve, but Soo said that is a usual precaution.
Police began tracking fireworks violations after midnight Wednesday, and reported none by late afternoon yesterday.
"It's really hard to predict how it'll go this year," said police spokeswoman Jean Motoyama. "We just hope that people use common sense."
In the first half of this year, there were 99 fireworks-related incidents, most of them brush fires, for a total loss of $36,000, according to the Fire Department. Soo said one factor that helped was the wet weather last New Year's Eve.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Richard Heffner said there was "a pretty good possibility" the weather would be dry on Tuesday. The American Lung Association of Hawaii said that could cause problems for people with respiratory ailments.
"Because there have been some changes in the law and, as reported, sales of fireworks seem to be booming, there does seem to be a potential for conditions to be worse than in past years," said Communications Director Bill Frensley.
Daiei's Watabayashi, a lifelong Hawaii resident, hoped it would be a safer holiday since aerial fireworks are now banned statewide.
The sales figures, though, give him an indication how the evening will turn out.
"It's probably going to be a lot louder, and smokier," he said.
Sales of fireworks are allowed until 9 p.m. Tuesday. They can be used on New Year’s Eve from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. Lighting up safely
To reduce the risk of injury, the Fire Department recommends:
Never let minors play with fireworks without adult supervision.
It is against the law to set off fireworks by schools, on public roads, in public parks, cane fields or places of worship. It also is prohibited to ignite them: The law