Explosive situation
Fireworks’ popularity hotter than a firecracker, but they’re illegal
In honor of Independence Day, Memphians will set off fireworks all around the city, from morning through night.
Technically, every single one of them will be breaking the law.
But the odds of anyone actually getting into trouble for igniting a bottle rocket or tossing a packet of firecrackers are slim.
Judge Larry Potter, whose Environmental Court would oversee anyone getting the $50 citation for shooting off fireworks, doesn’t recall ever seeing one in his 31 years on the bench.
Shelby County Fire Marshal Jake Haley, 10 years on the job,
has never cited someone for setting off fireworks. Assistant Memphis Fire Marshal Joe Payne hasn’t cited anyone in his 10 years, either.
Juvenile Court spokesman Barry Mitchell said he’s hard-pressed to remember more than a few cases coming through his domain.
“It’s a classic example of civil disobedience. We get hundreds of calls on fireworks,” Memphis Police Lt. William Woodard said, likening them to calls about barking dogs or loud music.
Although Woodard and others in law enforcement wouldn’t come right out and say it, apparently fireworks complaints are little more than a hassle.
“It’s just one of those laws that’s been enacted, and we’ve got to enforce it if we come across it,” Haley said. “You’ve got to have the manpower to do that, but being able to police it is difficult.”
On July 4 last year, MPD received 347 complaints about fireworks. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department received 120.
“It may get to a situation where they’re holding 50 fireworks complaints at one precinct,” Woodard said. “A lot of times, it f loods the system with calls. It’s a low-priority call, but it is a call. So, depending on the time of the day and the size of the precinct and manpower issues, they may respond on the call within three minutes or it may be 30 minutes.”
It’s been illegal to shoot fireworks in Shelby County without a permit since 1961. Reports from then cited safety as the primary reason, with references as far back as 1941 to an explosion at a fireworks stand that killed one boy and critically injured another.
For that reason, officials with local police and fire departments aren’t ready to do away with the law, despite the hassles of enforcement.
Woodard worries that unsupervised kids may use fireworks, or adults may use them as weapons.
“I don’t see where the ordinance needs to be done away with,” he said. “I guess it’s a deterrent and a tool to use.”
Memphis Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Staples said the city responded to 28 fires last year blamed on fireworks, but none was serious.
“It appears that the law was enacted for safety reasons, and children and adults get injured every year as a result of fireworks,” Staples said.
“And certainly, I think the spirit of the law was to keep citizens in Memphis safe.”