#HTE

Beautiful, Distributed and Illegal: Hawaii’s Amazing Annual Fireworks Spectacle

Fireworks are illegal in NYC, so only city-sanctioned bodies host pyrotechnic shows during the holidays, and at just a handful of locations. In Hawaii, however, residents take matters into their own hands. Look at this footage shot on New Years Eve from a car traveling along Hawaii’s H1 highway shortly after midnight (language NSFW):

Riddled with resorts though it is, it seems impossible that all of those fireworks are coming from organized bodies. I inquired with some Hawaiian acquaintances and learned that each year, people all over the state stock up on fireworks, then simultaneously launch them in a spirit of community, illegal though it may be. This drone footage gives you an idea of how wonderfully distributed the show really is:

The beautiful show, which authorities have never quite been able to clamp down on, does come at a cost. This year a woman was killed and a man critically injured in a fireworks-related accident, and as Hawaii’s KHON News reports, ambulance crews are stretched dangerously thin on the holiday; from midnight to 1am alone, Oahu’s 18 ambulances scrambled to cover 28 calls, and ultimately answered over 170.

Honolulu councilwoman Ann Kobayashi feels that the only solution to safety must be, like the shows themselves, distributed. “We can’t really legislate people into being responsible,” she said. “We all have to be responsible for our children, for ourselves.”

http://www.core77.com/posts/59290/Beautiful-Distributed-and-Illegal-Hawaiis-Amazing-Annual-Fireworks-Spectacle