New restrictions on personal use of fireworks are advancing in the state Legislature after a series of incidents strained firefighters, caused personal injuries and damaged property across the state.
A bill, which passed the House 160-38 last Wednesday, would allow municipalities and cities to place their own restrictions on consumer fireworks use and limit residents’ fireworks use statewide between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. with the exception of July 2-4 and Dec. 31, when residents can use fireworks until 1 a.m..
Jason Sonafelt, the chief for Fire Company #1 in Monroeville, said call centers, fire and police departments are too understaffed with limited availability to address the slew of fireworks-related calls they receive during the holidays.
The barrage of complaints and calls, Mr. Sonafelt explained, can stretch firefighters thin and possibly cause them to miss “another call or another emergency somewhere” because they are chasing down a fireworks incident.
The new bill will likely be voted on in the Senate in the coming months and comes after an increase in accidents since the state loosened restrictions in 2017 that previously limited fireworks use to small devices such as sparklers. The 2017 fireworks relaxation expanded the sale of fireworks to explosives that meet federally approved consumer standards such as roman candles and bottle rockets.
“There were still rules and stipulations in place as far as distance from structures and not being under the influence of alcohol or any substance. And everybody forgot about that part,” Chief Sonafelt said.
Chief Sonafelt said fireworks explosions can negatively affect children, pets, the elderly and veterans who are more susceptible to loud, gunshot-like noises.
Pittsburgh city officials created a fireworks task force of police officers and firefighters to enforce fireworks violations last June. But the eight-person team was overworked last year after fielding 86 fireworks-related complaints around Independence Day.
The roof of the former Horace Mann School in Pittsburgh caught fire in 2020 and caused about $60,000 in damages to the abandoned building after police warned a group of people to stop shooting fireworks at the school’s baseball field.
Residents started at least two fires on July 4, 2021, when cardboard boxes caught fire at Brashear High School in Beechview and trash cans caught on fire in Brookline Memorial Park after several cartons of fireworks were lit off, authorities said.
The legislation would increase fine penalties for individuals who violate fireworks regulations from $100 to $500, but would keep the current law’s launch distance requirement of at least 150 feet away from all occupied structures.
“We worked with the municipal groups, the Humane Society, the first responder organizations, the agricultural folks and the fireworks industry themselves,” said the sponsor, state Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks. “We worked with a lot of a lot of folks to try and find what we could find work and everybody was in favor of it.”
Mr. Farry, who is also a firefighter, said if the bipartisan legislation is enacted, it would empower municipalities to ban fireworks, if people are unable to be at least 150 feet away from buildings and vehicles when igniting the explosive.
In a city like Pittsburgh, where several neighborhoods don’t have the 150-foot radius of space to be considered legal for citizens to light fireworks, the city could implement a fireworks ban. However, in larger, more rural areas where property owners have enough room to follow the 150-foot rule, those municipalities would be unable to ban fireworks, Mr. Farry said.
The bill would also reallocate the 12% fireworks sales tax, which currently goes into the commonwealth’s general fund, to solely fund state fire and emergency services, Mr. Barry said. He explained that the proposed redistribution could be an extra $10 million dollars for the state’s emergency services each year.
Since the commonwealth loosened fireworks restrictions in 2017, Pittsburgh-area residents have witnessed fireworks-related injuries, fires and building damages increase as some members of the public don’t take the proper precautions when igniting the polytechnics.
Tyler Stawski, an assistant manager at Phantom Fireworks in Monroeville, said the store scans ID’s, and issues safety pamphlets and liability waivers that customers have to sign before they can purchase fireworks.
State laws require individuals to be at least 18 years old to purchase and use fireworks and mandate fireworks users not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Still, even with added safety precautions, Mr. Stawski said fireworks accidents will happen, “whether or not it's the fireworks’ fault, or the people using them irresponsibly, either way, it'll happen.”
An 8-year-old boy was killed in West York, Pa., last year when his family’s house caught on fire due to the improper disposal of used fireworks, investigators said.
Heather Nazelrod was buying fireworks for her family’s annual Independence Day celebration inside Phantom Fireworks on Monday, where she emphasized the importance of safe firework use. Ms. Nazelrod, a resident of Johnstown, Cambria County, said her family takes extra precautions when working with fireworks such as measuring the distance between buildings, wearing eye and ear protection and keeping a tub of water nearby, she explained.
Ms. Nazelrod said while she enjoys the Independence Day fireworks celebrations, she is fond of the bill. She thinks it can help reel-in fireworks use throughout the year, which can be bothersome to her and her neighbors during the non-holiday season.
“I will catch myself saying, do they not know what day of the week it is?” she said.
Nick Pasion: npasion@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @nicholaspasion.
First Published: June 17, 2022, 9:46 a.m.
