A Pennsylvania law passed in 2017 that finally allowed residents to buy aerial fireworks has increased both the number of booms and the corresponding noise complaints, sparking frustration among Lehigh Valley firefighters, police officers and residents.
Allentown police officials said prior to the 2017 law, they would often respond to complaints by seizing aerial fireworks. But the law now permits powerful fireworks like bottle rockets and Roman candles, so there’s little police can do.
Fireworks are banned from being ignited within 150 feet of an occupied structure, even if no one is present at the time. Bans are also in place for discharge from a motor vehicle, toward a motor vehicle or building or while the user is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
But police and fire officials say the complaints continue to pile up and law enforcement has proven to be futile at best.
“It’s always been a problem for us, but it’s actually worse now,” Allentown Fire Capt. John Christopher said. “All we can basically do now is tell them not to use it and then walk away from some guy with a huge box of fireworks. That’s really not going to work. You know they’re going to set them off.”
Complaints can be heard across the suburbs too.
Emmaus resident Geoffrey Keck said residents in his neighborhood often set off fireworks after 11 p.m., waking up the family and giving one of his dogs “extreme anxiety.”
Bethlehem resident Heather Irvine said debris from fireworks litters her yard and the noise wakes their toddler, “which is infuriating.”
Not only are fireworks a quality-of-life issue, but they can have deadly consequences. Nationwide last year there were at least five fireworks-related deaths and 9,100 injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
On Sunday, a 9-year-old girl was critically injured when she found and lit fireworks inside a northeast Philadelphia home, according to The Associated Press. Last June, a man lost a hand and another person suffered hand and face wounds after a fireworks accident in Washington Township, Lehigh County, according to scanner reports.
Fireworks also are linked to a blaze early Saturday that damaged the roof of McKinley Elementary School in Allentown. Christopher said both the parking lot and roof area were “littered” with remnants of fireworks that caught the roof ablaze and also caused water damage inside the building.
Jay Delaney, Wilkes-Barre’s fire chief and president of the Pennsylvania Career Fire Chiefs Association, said last year’s Fourth of July — the first since the law was passed — was “across the commonwealth, like a war zone.”
"The [state] law took the municipal government level out of this, where we couldn’t regulate this whatsoever,” Delaney said.
Lehigh Valley police said they rarely file charges or cite someone, although they spend a lot of time responding to fireworks complaints. Sometimes neighbors worry the blasts are gunshots.
The state law “is not helping the situation at all,” said Allentown Assistant Police Chief Steve Vangelo.
“It is difficult to track down the guilty parties," Bethlehem police Capt. Ben Hackett said.
The law allows residents to purchase aerial fireworks. Before, Pennsylvania residents were only permitted to purchase ground-based fireworks, like sparklers or fountains. The many fans of fireworks have responded, buying up colorful displays large and small for holidays and other events.
Before the change, Vangelo said police often simply seized illegal fireworks after receiving a noise complaint. But now, even though people may possess more powerful fireworks, they are protected by the law.
By ordinance Allentown bans fireworks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Fireworks also are banned on city property like parks, streets and sidewalks.
But if police are called and “didn’t see someone light the fuse,” Vangelo said, "it’s not enough evidence to file charges.”
Like in any criminal case, police can’t file charges without probable cause, Hackett said.
“If we respond to your house for fireworks and there are spent fireworks lying at your feet and you have the remaining fireworks in one hand and a lighter in the other, I would arrest you,” Hackett said in an email.
But responding to a noise complaint and coming upon a group of people with fireworks is not enough probable cause, police say.
“I’d like to see the state law change back to the original one,” Vangelo said. “Then at least we could seize the fireworks.”
Similarly, there are few places to set off fireworks in Easton, Fire Chief Michael Krill said.
The state law covers occupied structures, and last July 11 Easton adopted an ordinance banning fireworks on city streets, sidewalks, parks, public buildings or any other city-owned property. Any “wanton” use of fireworks would violate the city’s nuisance ordinance, and a separate parks ordinance prohibits unpermitted fireworks.
Krill recently spoke to the Easton Block Watch Association, and the fireworks issue came up, with people expressing concern over what he called serial violators of the ordinance. “They’re doing it at different times of the evening and disrupting people’s lives,” he said.
Among other ideas, Krill said he advised the residents to share their views about the law with their state lawmakers.
The law started as a free-standing bill, and firefighter groups lobbied against it. Then its language was added to a broader measure, and it passed. Now, some lawmakers are attempting to change it.
“We would like to see it repealed," Delaney said, “but if nothing else we would like to see it revisited so local governments can be involved.”
State Rep. Frank Farry, a Bucks County Republican, has proposed legislation that would require that fireworks retailers post signs that inform consumers about fireworks laws, limit the times of day when fireworks can be used, offer guidance to local governments and increase criminal penalties for using fireworks illegally.
Among the co-sponsors of the Farry bill is state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, a Lehigh County Democrat who lives in Allentown. Schlossberg said he had two calls from constituents Monday complaining about fireworks noise.
Lawmakers, he said, did not realize when they voted on the broad-based bill in 2017 that it would have such a huge impact on fireworks sales and use.
“We need to correct this,” he said.
Ford Turner, The Morning Call’s Harrisburg correspondent, contributed to this story.
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