All five of the surviving New Year’s Eve fireworks burn victims, who were flown to the Arizona Burn Center for treatment while in critical condition, have been discharged.

Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center, announced the good news to reporters during a videoconference on Thursday.

“They're all doing very well physically, emotionally and psychologically,” said Foster. “Obviously, this was a lot to overcome.”  

Two of the patients are still in inpatient rehab, while the other three patients are in outpatient therapy at the Arizona Burn Center. All of the patients plan to return to Hawaii over the next several weeks and months, according to Foster. 

“Burn injuries are lifelong injuries, and all five of them have got lots of work ahead of them,” said Foster. He said the patients have substantial scars, which will likely require various reconstructive surgeries in the future, and some physical limitations and disabilities that they will have to work to overcome during physical and occupational therapy — a process that may take years. For many burn victims, the emotional and psychological problems start to set in once they are discharged from the hospital, Foster said. 

“Burn injuries are just about the worst thing that can happen to people,” said Foster. “It is uniquely horrifying.” 

A New Year’s fireworks explosion at a home in Aliamanu killed six people, including a 3-year-old boy, and injured about 20 others. The tragedy occurred when a lit bundle of about 50 aerial fireworks fell over, blasting into crates that contained unlit fireworks and causing them to also go off. Three days after the explosion, the U.S. military helped transfer six patients from Queen’s Medical Center and Straub Benioff Medical Center to the Arizona Burn Center for further treatment. 

When the patients were flown to Arizona, they were intubated on breathing machines and most of them were in medically induced comas. Doctors at the Arizona Burn Center started operating on them the day after their arrival, and each patient needed multiple surgeries. On Jan. 28, one of the six patients flown to Arizona, Kevin Vallesteros, died from his injuries. 

The Arizona Burn Center has treated scores of patients who were injured by fireworks, but Foster said “we don't often see the commercial heavy duty fireworks injuries, like we saw with these patients.” As a result of the massive explosion, all five of the fireworks victims had “pieces of stuff, particulate matter, projectiles that had been embedded in their skin.” The shrapnel created unusual wounds and infections that the Arizona Burn Center had not previously treated. 

Once the surgeries were complete — with at least one patient needing a dozen surgeries — the medical professionals woke them up. “It was a difficult situation for each of them, because most of them don't have much memory of what happened other than being at the party and then what happened after that is pretty hazy for most of them,” said Foster. “Most of them were very surprised to find out that they were in Phoenix, Arizona and not in Hawaii.”

The Arizona Burn Center employs two full-time psychologists and one psychiatrist, along with social workers, case management workers, and more who help the patients with their mental health. 

In the aftermath of the fatal fireworks incident, Honolulu police arrested a dozen people, including the homeowners where the New Year’s Eve party took place. However, they were all released without being charged as the investigation continues. Investigators confiscated 500 pounds of unused illegal fireworks from the scene of the blast, which does not include the fireworks that went off on the night of the explosion.

Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.