``It's not a real easy thing to do,'' Fire Marshal John Dean said. ``We're not really looking for a volume of people to stop, but to send a message that you are taking a risk.''
Dean said his officers want to remind Mainers that, even though fireworks are legal to buy in New Hampshire, they are not allowed in Maine.
Maine state police have seized fireworks worth nearly $1,800, and six people have been charged with illegal fireworks possession in York District Court in the last two weeks.
Fire marshals in unmarked vehicles are conducting surveillance of New Hampshire fireworks dealers, looking for people loading fireworks into cars with Maine license plates. When the cars return to Maine, state police in marked cruisers stop and search cars suspected of carrying fireworks. Possessing fireworks worth more than $100 is a Class D crime in Maine, with a penalty of up to $5,000. Possession of less than $100 worth of fireworks is a civil offense, carrying fines of about $50.
``Basically any ports of entry from New Hampshire to Maine we'll be watching, but we obviously will not tell when or where,'' Dean said.
But the surveillance by Maine authorities hasn't discouraged customers visiting Phantom Fireworks on Route One in Seabrook, N.H., where business is up 10 percent over last year. In the parking lot, cars with New Hampshire plates sat next to those from Vermont, New York, Massachusetts and Maine.
``We are a backyard fireworks business,'' assistant manager Mary McCluskey said. ``Most people that purchase fireworks come to vacation in New Hampshire and they use fireworks in New Hampshire.''
