HONOLULU (AP) 鈥� Some wounds suffered by six Hawaii residents for medical treatment after a 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 inflicted traumatic injuries.
鈥淚n 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,鈥� Foster said at a news conference from Phoenix that was streamed online.
The blast , 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淵ou really have to get into the operating room and start operating on these people to really understand that. So it鈥檚 not surprising that nobody picked up on this,鈥� Foster said.
The traumatic injuries resulted in some unusual infections but Foster said this didn鈥檛 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 to crack down on those who flout the state鈥檚 fireworks laws. The state Department of Law Enforcement has for $5.2 million to hire eight people and expand a forensic lab to counter of illegal fireworks.
Audrey Mcavoy, The Associated Press
