Rescuers find gruesome scene at a Honolulu home after a fireworks blast kills 3, injures over 20

Emergency crews arrived to a chaotic and gruesome scene in a Honolulu neighborhood after a large New Year's firework tipped over after being lit and ignited a fiery, shrapnel-studded blast that killed three people and injured more than 20 others, several of them critically.

Two women died at the scene and a third woman died at a hospital, authorities said Wednesday as they implored people to abandon their New Year's tradition of setting off fireworks across the city. Officials promised tougher penalties for illegal fireworks.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green graphically described the deaths in a news conference Wednesday to emphasize the potential danger of fireworks. “We’re talking about the worst possible, war-zone injuries that took their lives.”

Some of the more than 20 people taken to hospitals with severe burns and shrapnel wounds included children, said officials who had not yet publicly identified any victims including those killed.

Police were investigating whether charges for the person who lit the firework near midnight were warranted, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Logan said.

The blast happened at a three-story home with a bottom-level carport. Piles of debris including bundles of blackened firework mortars could be seen in front of the house in Wednesday's daylight.

The explosion broke windows across the street. It happened when a lit bundle of aerial, mortar-style fireworks called a “cake” tipped over or fell off a table and fired sideways into crates containing additional fireworks, which then exploded.

The cake's rounds could be separated but had been lit as a bundle of 50, part of what officials said was tens of thousands of dollars' worth of fireworks at the home.

Ambulance crews arrived but had to triage — separate and treat victims with the worst injuries first — several houses away because of parked cars and crowds on the streets, Honolulu Emergency Services Department Director Dr. Jim Ireland said.

Some people nearby continued setting off fireworks even as blast victims were being taken to hospitals, officials said.

The neighborhood is near Honolulu's international airport and a joint U.S. Air Force and Navy base and a little more than 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, which honors sailors who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II.

“I’ve been in EMS over 30 years and this is probably one of the worst calls I’ve ever been on as far as the immense tragedy and amount of patients and severity of the injuries,” Ireland said in an earlier news conference.

A fourth person was killed in a different fireworks explosion elsewhere on Oahu, officials said. At least four other serious injuries occurred in unrelated fireworks accidents overnight.

Social media posts overnight showed fireworks being set off across wide areas of Honolulu even though sparklers, fountains and aerial fireworks are illegal and a permit is required to set off firecrackers, according to the Honolulu Fire Department.

“We’re angry, frustrated and deeply saddened at this unnecessary loss of life and suffering. It’s a tragic way to start the new year,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said. “No one should have to endure such pain due to a reckless and illegal activity.”

Green said he was looking into whether new penalties including a felony charge for possessing large fireworks are needed to curtail fireworks in Hawaii.

Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming. John Hanna contributed to this report from Topeka, Kansas.

A woman walks in front of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

A woman sweeps debris from a driveway across the street from the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Fireworks debris is seen outside the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Evelyn Paguirigan points to broken windows at her home across the street from where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people in Honolulu, on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

A view of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted testified Wednesday that he was present at a 2018 dinner with Ohio’s then-Gov.-elect Mike DeWine and two former FirstEnergy Corp. executives who are accused of bribing a top utility regulator, whom DeWine appointed shortly thereafter.

But Husted, who testified remotely, said he recalled little of what was discussed that night and that he was not aware that former CEO Chuck Jones and former lobbyist Michael Dowling planned to meet with DeWine’s ultimate choice to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Sam Randazzo, right afterward. Husted said Randazzo was not FirstEnergy’s preferred candidate for the job.

Neither DeWine nor Husted has been accused of wrongdoing. Husted's testimony in the high-profile corruption trial comes as he faces a hot-button retention bid this fall to keep the Senate seat to which he was appointed last year as a successor to JD Vance. He is expected to face Democrat Sherrod Brown, a three-term former senator who lost a reelection bid in 2024.

Husted was Ohio’s lieutenant governor-elect in early 2019, when prosecutors allege Jones and Dowling bribed the late Randazzo in exchange for legislative and regulatory favors. That included championing a $1 billion bailout of two FirstEnergy-associated nuclear plants at the heart of the $60 million bribery scandal from which the executives’ prosecutions arose. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is serving 20 years in prison for masterminding the scheme.

Asked Wednesday about the purpose of the 2018 dinner, Husted told jurors, “I don't precisely know. I did not organize it. But it was, I think basically, it was that FirstEnergy was going to be in town and they wanted to say ‘hi’ and congratulate us on winning.” He said he did not recall anything discussed during the meal, only that DeWine wasn't feeling well.

Husted confirmed the general theme of discussions he'd had with Jones and Dowling — which the latter two texted about, sometimes with Householder — surrounding progress on House Bill 6, the state bailout bill.

Special Assistant Attorney General Matthew Meyer asked whether Husted knew Laurel Dawson, DeWine's then-chief of staff, and her husband, Mike Dawson. Husted said yes and described Mike Dawson as a friend. In response to questioning, Husted said he wasn't aware that Mike Dawson had been a consultant to FirstEnergy and once shared an office with Randazzo, nor had he ever heard that Mike Dawson shared information about the happenings inside the DeWine-Husted administration with Dowling.

Laurel Dawson was the person who vetted a dossier on Randazzo put together by DeWine's fellow Republicans, which urged the governor not to choose him because he was too close to FirstEnergy. The document was reviewed and dismissed without being shown to the governor. Husted said Wednesday that the only opposition to Randazzo's nomination that he could recall came from American Electric Power.

The Dec. 18, 2018, dinner, held at the storied Athletic Club of Columbus, is pivotal to Jones' and Dowling's cases. Evidence has shown that DeWine, Husted, Jones and Dowling were joined at the meal by Josh Rubin. Earlier in the day, Rubin — a FirstEnergy lobbyist and adviser to the 2018 DeWine-Husted campaign — had provided advice to the executives on how to lobby DeWine, then the governor-elect, in favor of the company’s preferences to chair the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, according to a text contained in the criminal complaint.

Husted said he did not recall them doing that.

Rubin cautioned the executives not to mention to DeWine that they would be meeting Randazzo at his residence after the dinner. Later in the day, Randazzo texted Dowling a list of figures for the years 2019 through 2024: “Total 4,333,333.” “Got it, Sam,” Dowling replied. “Good seeing you as well. Thanks for the hospitality. Cool condo.”

The next day, Jones also texted Randazzo. “We’re going to get this handled this year, paid in full, no discount,” he wrote. “Don’t forget about us or Hurricane Chuck may show up on your doorstep! Of course, no guarantee he won’t show up sometime anyway.”

Randazzo replied, “Made me laugh — you guys are welcome anytime and anywhere I can open the door. Let me know how you want me to structure the invoices. Thanks.”

Randazzo faced state and federal charges for his role in the scheme before dying by suicide in April 2024.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, speaks during an event about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)