[poll id=”29″]Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Many purchasers of fireworks go to tents set up in parking lots all over the Valley. Unfortunately these people who are in the business of selling you fireworks obviously will not tell you which fireworks are illegal to use.

Arizona State law regulates the use of fireworks but the selling of fireworks…not so much. Let’s take a look at exactly which fireworks are permissible by state law:

  • ground and hand held
  • cylindrical fountains
  • cone fountains
  • illuminating torches
  • wheels
  • ground spinners
  • flitter sparklers
  • toy smoke devices
  • wire sparklers
  • dipped sticks

Duh…did you happen to notice something about these permitted fireworks? None of these shoot up into the air. That should be your first clue as to whether the fireworks you are using are legal.

Which fireworks are illegal by state law? How about any fireworks that go up in the air and explode. Here’s the list:

  • firecrackers
  • bottle rockets
  • sky rockets
  • missile-type rockets
  • helicopters
  • torpedoes
  • roman candles
  • jumping jacks

For those who are truly challenged here’s a diagram of prohibited fireworks:

Illegal Fireworks

Where are you allowed to shoot off all of those nifty (and probably illegal) fireworks? How about… only on your own property. If there are sparks it is only fitting that your roof should go up in a blaze of stupidity…not your neighbor’s.

You cannot shoot your fireworks on public property. That means any city property: city parks, city sidewalks and city streets. That means you cannot go out onto the street in front of your house and shoot your fireworks there.

If your neighbor is shooting off illegal fireworks please call the NON-EMERGENCY Glendale Police Department number: 623-930-3000. It may not do any good but at least you have created a record. Obviously the police patrol officers are swamped that night with these calls yet priority one and two calls (life threatening or imminent danger) must be answered first.

Of course, if your idiot neighbor has started a fire, please call 9-1-1 immediately. Give the police call taker as much information as possible and that should include the address where the fireworks are being used and a description of the people involved (usually race, height, male or female, clothing being worn, i.e., blue jeans, khaki shorts, white T Shirt, etc.).

While we are at it there are a lot of pets that go nuts with fear when fireworks are being used. We bring our German Sheppard inside because she is so frightened. More pets, usually dogs, run away on July 4th than on any other day of the year. And it isn’t just pets; babies and very young children are also frightened by the loud noises produced by those illegal fireworks.

Another common ‘no-no’ is being plastered while shooting off those fireworks. More people, usually guys (sorry about that guys), end up in an Emergency Room with burns or missing fingers. It would be wise to have a bucket of water nearby to dunk that burnt hand into.

Be a good neighbor. It only takes a minute to let your neighbors on either side of your house know that you plan on shooting off fireworks. At least they can prepare by putting their pets inside.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July. Remember the real reason for the holiday,liberty.

© Joyce Clark, 2018         

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.