Residents blast fireworks plan
By Leila Fujimori, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"We have no other choice,"
DeSousa was referring to state
The neighborhood board voted unanimously to oppose disposal of the fireworks in the area. Most of the 120 people in attendance opposed setting off a portion of the 5,400 pyrotechnic devices once every month for six months.
The devices are a second set of fireworks, confiscated by the federal government and stored five years ago deeper in the same storage bunker where a fireworks explosion and fire killed five men in 2011, Gill said.
They were seized by
DeSousa, dispatched by URS'
"Grucci selected this site because it had been used in previous years for
Nanakuli-Maili Neighborhood Board member
"These are homes that can light up fast. You label these as explosives. You insult my community. It's an insult you propose something like this. ... We're not a dumping ground on the
She said a health official said the fireworks disposal would last only 25 minutes. "What does he mean? It's OK? To me, it's not OK. Period.
"Whatever happened in a bunker can happen here," she said. "Same thing."
Farmers expressed concerns that the large amount of fireworks would startle livestock, chickens and pets, cause them to bolt and affect egg production. Others were concerned about the health and safety of residents, including children and kupuna, renters who live on the property and homes all around.
Some suggestions for disposing of the fireworks were detonating them in a nearby quarry, putting them out on a barge, soaking them in salt water and taking them to a military site for detonation or a munitions dump.
DeSousa said Grucci's plan was to remove the fireworks from the bunker where the fatal explosion took place, store them in another bunker at the same Waikele facility, and truck 900 devices at a time to the proposed private property at
"It will roughly take seven minutes to burn out 900 cakes," he said.
DeSousa said residents had a misconception that it would be stored at this location.
However, the public notice published
The notice makes no mention of storage continuing at Waikele, only that they are currently stored there and need to be disposed of due to shelf life.
Neighborhood board members asked the
Chang said the department has dealt with munitions disposal by the military, including the
He said the
He said in police-confiscated fireworks, the usual method is to put them into a 55-gallon barrel and explode them.
A 2013 federal report on the 2011 explosion and fire that killed five
The report said that while the
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