Hawaii fireworks blast victims have injuries comparable to those seen on a battlefield, doctor says

HONOLULU — Some wounds suffered by six Hawaii residents flown to Arizona for medical treatment after a deadly illegal fireworks explosion on New Year’s are comparable to battlefield injuries, the doctor overseeing their care said Friday.

Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix, said flying particles and debris from the explosion inflicted traumatic injuries.

“In addition to the thermal injury that comes from the heat and the flame and the fire, we also have an explosive nature to this with particles moving at very high speeds striking patients,” Foster said at a news conference from Phoenix that was streamed online.

The blast killed four people, including a 3-year-old boy, and injured about 20 others. The U.S. military flew six of the wounded to Arizona on Jan. 4 because Hawaii’s lone burn unit didn’t have enough capacity to care for all the victims.

Medical staff hadn’t realized the magnitude of the injuries from the flying particles until the patients had surgery. But Foster said this was to be expected.

“You really have to get into the operating room and start operating on these people to really understand that. So it’s not surprising that nobody picked up on this,” Foster said.

The traumatic injuries resulted in some unusual infections but Foster said this didn’t catch caregivers off guard. Doctors at the center have seen these types of injuries in fireworks patients before and infections in burn patients are almost unavoidable, he said.

The blast happened at a three-story home with a bottom-level carport in a Honolulu residential neighborhood.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green earlier this week proposed a range of new penalties to crack down on those who flout the state’s fireworks laws. The state Department of Law Enforcement has asked the Legislature for $5.2 million to hire eight people and expand a forensic lab to counter rampant smuggling of illegal fireworks.