Fireworks changes may be explosive
The Red Oak City Council is looking at making changes to the City of Red Oak’s fireworks ordinance.
City administrator Brad Wright said the ordinance from last year remained mostly unchanged, with only a few differences for the council to consider.
“I’ve included the possibility of narrowing the window of when the fireworks can be set off. Last year it went on a few more days than some people felt was necessary. What I am proposing here is the evening of July 4 and the evening of New Year’s Eve, nothing else,” Wright said.
The second addition stated no person shall discharge fireworks on public property, unless authorized by the city. Wright thought the verbiage was in the ordinance created last year, but it was overlooked. Wright felt it needed to be included in the ordinance. Red Oak Mayor Bill Billings agreed.
“Last year on July 4, there were people setting off fireworks at the high school parking lot and the fairgrounds parking lot. Fireworks were being set off in the crowds. If anything had misfired, we’d have been dealing with ambulance calls and other issues,” Billings said.
As was the case last year, fireworks can only be sold in a standalone structure and no fireworks would be allowed for sale downtown. Wright said a court ruled those restrictions were legal.
“We discussed it last year and felt it didn’t make sense for fireworks to be sold in a building where the buildings are all connected. If something would happen, it could potentially cause a fire on the whole block,” Wright said.
If the restrictions on dates were approved, Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy felt his officers would still encounter instances where fireworks were being used outside of the ordinance dates.
“We’ll still spend an abundant amount of time chasing people, though we highly encourage them to respect our city ordinance and hope they will do that,” Rhamy said.
Billings suggested a flyer be printed to be handed out to anyone buying a permit to sell fireworks with the request it be posted with the dates fireworks are permitted to be discharged in the city. Wright said a flyer could be printed for that purpose. Billings suggested a zero tolerance policy be put in place if anyone was found discharging fireworks out of allowed ordinance dates.
“No matter if they’re aware of the ordinance or not, I think a citation should be handed out for being in violation, the first time out, each time out. That way, word can get around that the city isn’t messing around,” Billings said.
While saying sometimes it was hard to track down who shot the fireworks off, he was certain they would be able to catch a few people in the act who were using fireworks outside of the ordinance dates.
The council was in favor of the changes proposed by Wright. The first reading of the ordinance changes is scheduled for the next regular city council meeting.