‘This Could Happen To Anybody,’ Says Man Who Was At Fatal Fireworks Party
One Salt Lake resident offered a different description of what caused the explosion that killed 3 people.
Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, dozens of people were sitting at tables lined up in the driveway of 4144 Keaka Drive in O驶ahu’s Salt Lake area, eating and preparing to ring in 2025 with their family members and friends.
One person was about to light a firework into the sky from the middle of the street, but it was accidentally angled toward the house when it went off, shooting straight past the revelers and into the garage wall where other, still-unused fireworks were stacked, according to neighborhood resident Roscoe Kalilikane, who was across the street at the time.
That set off a chain-reaction blast that shook nearby houses and continued exploding, leaving three people dead and more than 20 injured, including children.
Kalilikane’s account given Thursday differs from what officials said Wednesday. They said a rectangular configuration of fireworks known as a cake tipped over and blasted into a portion of the remaining supply.
But Kalilikane said nothing tipped over. Instead, it was the stray firework that caused the explosion. He called it a freak accident and said people in the neighborhood have been setting off fireworks to celebrate New Year’s Eve for generations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tradition,鈥 he said. 鈥淓ver since I was a kid we did them.鈥 .
Keali’i Kaolulo, who lives a few houses down from the scene, said he can still see people burning in the street when he walks out onto Keaka Drive.
鈥淥ur street is like nuts on New Year鈥檚 Eve.鈥
Carol Kigawa
As he stood across from the house Thursday afternoon, two American Red Cross workers approached and gave him a number for a counseling service.
鈥淚’m probably going to need that,” Kaolulo said. “I saw the bodies fly out of the explosion… like rag dummies being thrown. And hearing them cry when I鈥檓 picking them up.鈥
Kaolulo said he raced to help that night. He loaded severely burned and injured people onto a flatbed handcart and wheeled them, one after another, to nearby P膩kini Street where the Honolulu Emergency Services Department had staged a triage station.
He said many of the victims鈥 clothes were still on fire when he grabbed them, their skin burned and blackened.
鈥淵ou try to hold them, you burn too,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like going up to a pot that鈥檚 boiling water.鈥
Kalilikane said he also ran to help people, including one boy about 3 years old who is now in the hospital with burns over 90% of his body.
鈥淗e was so hot I couldn鈥檛 even hold him,鈥 Kalilikane said.
Many of the people at the party were children, said Lance Jordan, who stopped by the house Thursday. He left flowers in a bucket in the driveway where a memorial was starting to grow.
Jordan said he was at the party earlier New Year鈥檚 Eve but left after 11 p.m. He said many of the kids, between the ages of 4 and 14, are neighborhood friends who play basketball and football together.
Jordan, who lives in K膩ne驶ohe but grew up on Keaka Drive, said everyone was having fun when he left the party. Setting off fireworks is an annual tradition for many houses in the neighborhood, he said.聽
鈥淭his could happen to anybody,鈥 he said.
Unlike other years, the fiery displays this year stopped earlier than usual, said Carol Kigawa, who lives down the street. She said most of the time on New Year鈥檚 Eve the fireworks continue until around 4 a.m., but this year they stopped a little after midnight.
鈥淥ur street is like nuts on New Year鈥檚 Eve,鈥 she said.
On Thursday afternoon, people stopped by the house to leave flowers or bow their heads for a few moments in the driveway. Others drove by slowly, craning their necks to look out their car windows or take pictures with their cellphones.
The incident has sparked calls for a stronger crackdown on illegal fireworks from state officials.
贬补飞补颈驶颈 prohibits aerial fireworks unless the user has a valid pyrotechnic permit. But that doesn鈥檛 stop countless residents from launching them during holidays, lighting up O驶ahu鈥檚 sky and filling the streets with smoke.
Government officials brace each holiday season for fireworks-related injuries. On Tuesday night, a also died in a fireworks blast.
The Honolulu Fire Department said it responded to 30 probable fireworks-related calls between 8 a.m. New Year鈥檚 Eve and 8 a.m. New Year鈥檚 Day, a 30% increase compared to a year earlier.
Last year, in the run-up to New Year鈥檚 Eve, officials conducted an amnesty event where residents could turn in their illegal fireworks with no questions asked.
More than 500 pounds were turned in 鈥 a tiny fraction of the 227,000 pounds of illegal fireworks seized to date by the state鈥檚 Illegal Fireworks Task Force, which started in 2023.
The state will host another fireworks amnesty event, Gov. Josh Green said at a press conference Wednesday, though details are still to be determined.
The next amnesty event will happen soon, Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson Brooks Baeher wrote Thursday in a text, though he did not respond when asked why an amnesty event hadn’t already been held this holiday season.
By Thursday, some people on social media and GoFundMe had posted references to the identities of victims. The city Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office is expected to identify victims soon.
