59 illegal fireworks tips submitted on new app during Fourth of July holiday

The state Department of Law Enforcement Illegal Fireworks Task Force continues to make headway in the battle against prohibited pyrotechnics.

The task force is analyzing and will follow up on actionable information from 59 tips submitted Thursday on the Fourth of July on the new SaferWatch app. The agency launched the web and mobile-based security system Wednesday, giving the public the power to anonymously report illegal fireworks in the community.

Also during the Independence Day holiday, the task force conducted a covert operation in the Waipahu, O‘ahu, area that resulted in 6 people being cited for using illegal aerial fireworks.

The citations are misdemeanor offenses punishable by up to 1 year in jail and fines.

Task force officers caught the suspects in the act as they ignited the illegal fireworks. Numerous homemade, multi-launch, mortar tubes capable of launching large aerial shells were confiscated. Additionally, several 1.4- and 1.3-classified illegal aerial mortar shells were recovered in their tubes, ready to be launched.

The 1.3-classified fireworks are considered “display fireworks” and should only be used by licensed professionals. They are very dangerous and are never meant for home use by the public.

Task force officers also confiscated about 200 pounds of various illegal aerial fireworks July 2 from another home in Waipahu. That investigation is ongoing.

Finally, the task force is also reporting its first felony prosecutions in two separate cases from December 2023.

Wolfgang Clark, 21, of Waipahu, and Daniel Young, 51, of Kapōlei, O‘ahu, were each arrested for selling illegal aerial fireworks to an undercover police officer and released pending further investigation. Clark was then subsequently arrested June 12, and Young on June 14, on arrest warrants charging them with violating the state’s fireworks control law.

The violations are Class C felonies punishable by up to 5 years in jail plus fines.

“I want to thank the public for continuing to assist the task force by reporting illegal fireworks users and the people who illegally distribute fireworks,” said Department of Law Enforcement Director Jordan Lowe.

From January until the end of June, task force officers seized about 1,000 pounds of illegal fireworks from various sources in the community.