Firework safety tips and laws you need to know ahead of the holiday
Dozens of firework tents are popping up around the city, and while they may draw you in promising fun, you could find yourself in danger if you don’t follow the safety guidelines.
“I always say a good time can go bad in a second,” Kirk Young, Owner of Dirty Kirk’s Fireworks tells us, “we always tell people to block them [the fireworks or firework structure called “cakes”], take concrete blocks and block them or drive a stake in the ground and put some tape around it just to give that firework some extra stability.”
In Bowling Green, you must also be at least 200 feet away from any structure and can only set off fireworks from 12-10 p.m. during June 27th to July 3rd and on July 5th. You can set off fireworks from 12-11 p.m. on July 4th. Any fireworks set off aside from those dates or times must be approved.
Not all follow those rules though, and police can’t charge someone with a misdemeanor for breaking the ordinance unless they see it happen.
Bowling Green City Commissioner Rick Williams says, “it’s one of those things where we won’t say it’s completely unenforceable, but it is hard to enforce.”
The Bowling Green Police Department says they received nearly 200 firework complaints from June 30th to July 5th in 2017.
Citing those numbers, in the summer of 2017, Commissioner Williams and Commissioner Slim Nash proposed an ordinance to ban the sale and possession of certain large fireworks within city limits—it didn’t pass.
“I do not look for that [proposal] to come back up again this year,” Commissioner Williams says, “it would be a big help to everyone if they would just obey what the current ordinance calls for. I know that can almost be wishful thinking.”
Kirk Young of Dirty Kirk’s Fireworks says about 90 percent of his inventory would have been banned and 90 percent of his revenue lost if the proposed ordinance passed in 2017.
“They would be driving to Tennessee to get them if the ordinance had of been passed,” Young says, “we try to do what we can as a retailer and as a business to support neighborly conduct and safety.”
For more info on Bowling Green’s current firework ordinance, click here.
