The Maui News

Live and smoldering fireworks caused four of the 12 fire incidents that the Maui Fire Department responded to from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day, Fire Services Chief Rylan Yatsushiro said.

From 3 p.m. Monday to 3 p.m. Tuesday, the department responded to 12 fire-related calls, eight of which were confined to rubbish bins and quickly extinguished. Three were small brush fires, and another was a vehicle fire. Of the 12 fires, four could be directly attributed to either firework use or the disposal of fireworks that were still smoldering, Yatsushiro said.

One incident that could have been potentially damaging occurred at 1:26 a.m. Tuesday, when firefighters responded to reports of smoke in the stairwells of the Royal Mauian in Kihei. An Engine 6 crew from Kihei located a box of spent fireworks that was burning in a trash chute closet on the fifth floor of the apartment building. They quickly extinguished the fire and confirmed that nothing else was burning in the trash chute or the basement dumpster.

Yatsushiro said damage estimates for the reported fires were unavailable as of Tuesday. He added that people using fireworks should stay “well away from structures and brush.” It’s also a good idea to keep a water source nearby in case of an incident, and to thoroughly douse the used fireworks in water before putting them in the trash, he said.