This Fourth of July, millions of Americans will gather to watch fireworks, participating in a ritual as old as the republic.
In 1777, there were already major fireworks displays in Philadelphia and Boston. The Philadelphia Fourth of July show, which was authorized by Congress, began and ended with 13 “rockets” commemorating the 13 colonies that had gained independence.
And as long as Americans have been celebrating festive occasions with fireworks, they have been aware of the dangers. The 1783 Fourth of July show in Charleston, S.C., for example, prompted the city to send out all of its fire engines to locations scattered throughout town to put out any conflagrations resulting from errant fireworks. In 1786, Charleston outlawed Fourth of July fireworks completely.
Cities and towns throughout Ohio are planning their own, modern-day fireworks shows, and many individuals are, too. But in its fireworks laws, Ohio is more Charleston than Philadelphia.
Current state law forbids unlicensed Ohioans from lighting anything except “novelty and trick” fireworks such as glow worms and party poppers.
H.B. 226, introduced by Rep. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) and Martin Sweeney (D., Cleveland), would allow Ohioans to fire off “consumer-grade” fireworks like roman candles and bottle rockets. Currently, special approval is required to do so.
But no special approval is required to buy these fireworks. Technically, they must be removed from the state within 48 hours of purchase. Until 2015, customers had to sign a statement saying they would do so. But it seems that not many fireworks purchased in Ohio make it across state lines, said Jessica Dolt of Curtice, Ohio, an assistant manager at Phantom Fireworks of Toledo. “There are always stories that customers will tell where someone got hurt because they weren’t being safe, but nothing really about the cops coming because of them firing them off.”
Professor Lawrence Bennett of the University of Cincinnati, who has also been a fireman for 30 years, said that the laws regarding large, professional fireworks displays are strictly enforced. Backyard displays, however, are more resource-intensive to enforce, especially during high-activity periods like the Fourth of July.
Sgt. Bryan Hollingsworth, spokesman for the Toledo Police Department, said that fireworks complaints increase sharply around the July 4.
The Toledo Municipal Court Clerk’s Office reports that, in 2015, four Toledoans were cited for unlawfully setting off fireworks, mostly around July 4. There were two such citations in 2016 around the same dates. There have been none so far in 2017. Anyone who has heard what the days around the Fourth of July sound like knows that these numbers do not reflect every illicit fireworks launch.
“It’s a relatively low priority,” Bennett said, “until [the police] are accompanying the life squad because a child has lost some fingers, and then it becomes a tragedy.”
Kelly Stincer, spokesman for the Ohio Fire and Explosion Investigation Bureau, said that the bureau investigated 18 incidents in 2016. It handles the investigations that local fire departments can’t.
One concrete change, should the fireworks bill pass, would be the creation of a commission funded by a new 4 percent tax. It would be charged with studying fireworks policy and creating safety materials to educate the public about fireworks.
Dr. Gary Smith, president of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance, is familiar with the risks of fireworks.
“These products are dangerous by design,” he said, referencing the extremely high temperatures and explosive aspects of fireworks. “I’ve seen kids coming in with these horrific injuries, writhing in pain, their parents with tears in their eyes, not knowing what to do.”
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 11,100 Americans were treated in emergency rooms in 2016 for fireworks-related injuries and reported an average of 7.1 fireworks-linked deaths nationwide from 2001 to 2016.
Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnic Association, argues that liberalization would actually increase fireworks safety.
“Prohibition doesn’t work. Telling people not to use fireworks doesn’t work,” she said. “In the three states [where fireworks are completely illegal], we tend to see a spike in injuries and fires. That’s because people choose to break the law, so when they’re doing their fireworks activity they’re trying not to get caught.”
“That is misinformation. Completely false,” Dr. Smith said. “When you legalize fireworks, the access to that product increases, and the use of product increases. I can tell you from decades of working in the field — when you increase exposure to a hazard, the risks increase. They don’t decrease.”
Dr. Smith said that he has never seen data to support the claim that liberalization makes fireworks users more conscientious, despite having asked for it several times. He recommended that families enjoy the Fourth of July by attending professional fireworks shows, which he said are much safer.
Contact Victorio Cabrera at: vcabrera@theblade.com, 419-724-6050, or on Twitter @vomcabrera.
First Published July 2, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
