Legal fireworks go on sale Monday but the nightly play of illegal aerials in 'Ewa Beach has been ongoing for a month, triggering concerns of increased activity during the New Year's weekend.

"We've been seeing three or four nightly with a pipe bomb or two going off," said Jeff Alexander, an 'Ewa Beach resident and member of the 'Ewa Neighborhood Board. Alexander said he began noticing the illegal fireworks around the first week of November.

Aerials are being sighted off Fort Weaver Road in the vicinity of North Road, according to several residents. However, police Capt. Mitch Kiyuna of the Kapolei patrol district said police have received just one complaint, from a woman two weeks ago, about aerials in 'Ewa Beach.

Fire officials also have received a few reports of aerials seen near Waipahu and Kane'ohe recently.

Authorities say illegal fireworks tend to be much more dangerous than varieties that can be purchased legally, and often are used to intentionally inflict damage.

Honolulu Deputy Fire Chief John Clark recalled that while he was a battalion chief, aerials were deliberately shot at a particular house in Waikiki, which was targeted two years in a row.

"We'd like to appeal to everyone's common sense and ask that the public use legal fireworks on the days and hours specified," Clark said.

Last year, a girl's hand was injured when two men set off an illegal firework, police said. The men were charged this week with second-degree assault.

FIREWORKS PERMIT

To buy legal fireworks, residents must buy $25 permits, which allow the purchase of 5,000 individual nonaerial fireworks, known as firecrackers, from retail outlets.

Clark said the permit system works, but it's not a complete solution.

"Our position has always been that only a complete ban on all fireworks will reduce the illegal aerials," Clark said. "It's disappointing to see illegal fireworks but it's something we can't stop outside of a ban.

"The bottom line is we know there's still a black market for fireworks and aerials, in particular, and that aerials are the ones causing house fires and large brushfires. The sad part is not that people use illegal aerials but that some are used maliciously and deliberately to start fires. They go up on a hill and try to shoot it at someone's house."

Aerials are prohibited in Hawai'i but it's not difficult to purchase them through underground dealers. Buying lists for illegal fireworks are usually circulated on O'ahu in late October and early November and offer everything from aerials to red-paper firecrackers.

For legal fireworks, residents need a $25 permit. In Honolulu, multiple permits may be purchased only at satellite city halls. Firecrackers with permits may be purchased from Monday through 1 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 1. Firecrackers can be set off from 9 p.m. New Year's Eve to 1 a.m. Jan. 1.

During a four-year period from 2001, Honolulu residents have paid $637,375 for 25,127 permits compared with $355,675 for 14,627 permits for the other three counties combined, according to statistics from the Honolulu Fire Department.

Current permit sales numbers are not yet complete, said HFD spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane.

"Look at how many permits get pulled and no way does it match how much people are playing," Alexander said. "I got a wooden-frame house and still have to worry about aerials."

Fireworks are not the only public safety concern over the holidays.

TRAFFIC FATALITIES

Police are setting up drunken-driver checkpoints at unannounced times and locations and stepping up enforcement on speeders to get motorists to slow down and drive cautiously through the final days of the year.

As of Thursday, 134 people had been killed on Hawai'i's roadways in 2005, 75 of them on O'ahu. The current statewide fatality count is four less than the 2004 total.

"We don't want to dampen the holiday spirit but want people to take precautions to keep safe and others safe," said Jose Gaytan, acting major of the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division. "The No. 1 thing is do not drink and drive.

"We also caution pedestrians to never assume anything and to be cognizant of motorists, even while crossing in a marked crosswalk. We hope our (fatality) numbers will not change from now to the end of the year."

Twenty-seven pedestrian fatalities have accounted for more than one-third of O'ahu's roadway deaths in 2005. Last year, 22 of 67 fatalities on the island were pedestrians.

Eight moped deaths, however, accounted for the biggest spike this year. There was only one fatal from a moped in 2004 and none in 2003. None of the Neighbor Islands reported a moped fatality the past two years.

Sgt. Dexter Veriato, administrator of Big Island police Traffic Services, Sgt. Barry Aoki of the Maui Police Department and Lt. Mark Scribner of Kaua'i's police Traffic Safety Bureau said their respective departments have increased speed enforcement and DUI checkpoints.

"We've always had a lot of December crashes so we've increased our enforcement period (through Jan. 6) and urge people rushing around to slow down," Veriato said.

Aoki's advice for Maui motorists is "drive defensively, use seat belts and watch for pedestrians."

For Kaua'i, Scribner said, "We've had a lot of speeding and a lot of those doing it are younger than 30. We have a lot of straightaways and sudden turns, so they need to slow down."

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.