Drone shows expand as safe alternatives to fireworks
The Fourth of July holiday was relatively quiet this year — at least in Boulder, Colorado and Salt Lake City.
For the first time, those two cities hosted noiseless celebrations by launching fleets of color-changing drones to create light shows in the sky to reduce the risk of wildfires and eliminate the reverberating booms from traditional pyrotechnics.
In Hawaii, July Fourth was again marked by illegal aerial fireworks that sent smoke and explosions thundering through isle neighborhoods and resulted in the state’s second fireworks-related death of 2023.
Glen John Nakata, 20, of Kailua-Kona, suffered fatal injuries Tuesday when the fireworks “launcher” he was holding over his head went off. On Jan. 4, Kenneth Meyers, 28, of Wahiawa, died after being struck in the face by fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services responded to 12 fireworks-related calls of burned hands, shrapnel wounds and face injuries during the most recent New Year’s Eve, and last week’s fireworks ignited multiple brush fires, including one on Maui that burned about 50 acres.
The Kahala Hotel and Resort hosted the state’s first drone show on New Year’s Eve and plans to do it again at the end of 2023.
“We decided to use drones as a new and innovative way to celebrate the New Year as well as provide our community neighbors with an environmentally friendly show, free from smoke and loud booms,” Lyle Uehara, the hotel’s commercial director, said in an email.
Drone light shows have their own pros and cons, especially high costs when compared to traditional fireworks displays. And many doubt whether large-scale public drone shows are likely to alter the behavior of Hawaii residents who blow off illegal fireworks, often year-round.
“It doesn’t seem to me like switching these professional fireworks shows to drone shows are going to stop the knuckleheads who are setting off their own illegal fireworks,” said state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua).
Although drone shows might replace professionally produced events, using them in local neighborhoods may bring their own problems, Keohokalole said.
“It seems like it would address the noise problem immediately, but we don’t necessarily want thousands or tens of thousands of privately operated drones to just be flying over neighborhoods without any sort of rules to protect the public,” he said.
Keohokalole said he acknowledges that fireworks are a local tradition, especially on New Year’s when the loud noise and flashes of light are said to ward off evil spirits. However, tradition can be taken only so far, he added.
Lawmakers have struggled for years to address complaints about illegal fireworks, including their impacts on pets, people with respiratory conditions such as asthma, and combat veterans with post traumatic stress disorder.
John Keala, an 82-year-old Waianae resident, said fireworks are a problem year-round in his neighborhood.
“It just keeps us up, you know,” Keala said.
