A flash, a loud boom and the black skies light up with a brilliant display of colors and designs to form perhaps one of the most iconic symbols of patriotism; fireworks.
The generally accepted time period for fireworks is New Year's Eve, the Fourth of July and a few days surrounding the Fourth. As many may know, these are not the only days these loud and sometimes dangerous fireworks are lit off.
Bellingham resident Clay Butler is looking to ban all personal fireworks in the city of Bellingham. He has been attending neighborhood association meetings to gather support for his cause. He has been collecting signatures with his online poll and keeps a blog about his cause.
This ban would not include the professional shows on the bay, simply the ones individuals light off in their backyards.
Now most might say, “Wait, why shouldn’t I be allowed to light off fireworks. I’m not hurting anybody.” But what if that wasn’t true? What if the noise of fireworks does affect a person’s neighbors?
Butler said during a neighborhood association meeting on Nov. 9 that he had heard fireworks being shot off not more than a week ago. That would have been around Halloween, when did Halloween become a holiday to light off fireworks?
According to Bellingham Municipal Code fireworks can be lit off on July 4 from 12 a.m. until 11 p.m. and New Year’s Eve from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day. So the fireworks lit off around Halloween were technically illegal.
What would it be like if fireworks were to be banned in the city of Bellingham? Probably a lot like what happened in the Spokane area. Fireworks have been banned for 18 years now. Anyone caught with fireworks must pay a $513 fine.
Butler mentioned that it is challenging to tell the difference between an illegal firework and a legal one, but if all fireworks were illegal there would be no guess work.
Around 8,000 firework related injuries put people in the emergency room or require hospitalization. Most of those injuries involve legal fireworks and the majority injured by fireworks are children under the age of 15.
Butler described what happened in Spokane when the banned fireworks as shift of popular opinion.
“It just wasn’t cool to shoot fireworks,” he said.
But back to the idea that shooting off fireworks can affect a person’s neighbors. The Humane Society has a record number of pets and people that come in after these holidays where shooting fireworks is popular. Most cats and dogs will hide under the bed because the loud booms scare them. Is it fair that a neighbor will lose a beloved family pet because of someone shooting off fireworks next door?
Losing an animal not enough suffering? What about a person? Many war veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and noises like loud booms can place those people right back in the middle of a war zone with bombs going off around them. Those noises may cause a war veteran to flashback to an event and relive something that was traumatic to them.
So in the end would it really be that bad to not be able to shoot of personal fireworks? A firework show would still be shown, but done by the professionals. The show would be safer, for a set period of time and those who did not choose to be around for it would not have too.
If a person knows when fireworks will be shot off, he or she is able to leave town for that day and does not have to worry about fireworks being shot off around Halloween.
Maybe Bellingham should model it’s rules after those in the Spokane area. The Fire Department has seen a reduction in fires and injuries related to fireworks. Would that really be such a bad thing?
