This year鈥檚 Fourth of July may be a little brighter and louder in some Northeast Ohio communities. A new law allows individuals to set off bottle rockets, roman candles and other consumer grade fireworks starting Friday.
The law, , opens up the possibility for adults to set off fireworks on their own property on certain days of the year: New Year's Day; Lunar New Year; Memorial Day weekend; Juneteenth; July 3, 4 and 5, along with the weekends succeeding and preceding the Fourth of July; Labor Day weekend; Diwali and New Year's Eve.
鈥淧eople are shooting them anyways,鈥� said John Sorgi, owner of American Fireworks in Hudson, who supports the new law. "So we think it sort of normalizes it a little more and allows communities a little more control on that front.鈥�
Although the law makes setting off fireworks legal in Ohio, local municipalities have the final say in whether fireworks are banned.
鈥淚 think they did it the right way. They鈥檙e limiting it to holidays and then that whole thing with the option of allowing people to opt out,鈥� Sorgi said in a phone interview. 鈥淭hen they鈥檙e also doing a safety fee tax, which, that鈥檚 another common thing in states when they legalize; They鈥檒l put an extra tax on there and that goes to fire prevention, communities, that kind of thing.鈥�
The flexibility of the law leaves many Ohioans wondering where their communities stand on legalizing fireworks.
Communities continuing their fireworks bans:
- Ashtabula (Ashtabula)
- Conneaut (Ashtabula)
- Berea (Cuyahoga)
- Cleveland (Cuyahoga)
- Euclid (Cuyahoga)
- Lakewood (Cuyahoga)
- Rocky River (Cuyahoga)
- Strongsville (Cuyahoga)
- Westlake (Cuyahoga)
- Vermilion (Erie and Lorain)
- Bellevue (Huron)
- Norwalk (Huron)
- Amherst (Lorain)
- Mentor (Lake)
- Medina (Medina)
- Wadsworth (Medina)
- Aurora (Portage)
- Akron (Summit)
- Orrville (Wayne)
Communities adopting the new fireworks law:
- Sandusky allows fireworks on Memorial Day, July 3-5 and New Year鈥檚 Eve (Erie)
- Huron (Erie)
- Painesville (Lake)
- Lorain allows fireworks on July 4, Cinco de Mayo, Juneteenth and New Years Eve (Lorain)
- Youngstown (Mahoning)
- Hudson (Summit)
- Wooster (Wayne)
Communities still deciding whether to adopt the fireworks law:
- Ashland has not yet made a decision, but it is enforcing its current ban on fireworks.
- Kent is waiting to see the final rules about the law before making a decision.
- North Canton has not passed any fireworks related legislation as of June 22. Currently, fireworks are still banned.
- Campbell has not passed any laws regarding adopting this law.
- Chardon has not discussed this bill and has no plans to discuss it in the near future.
To ban or not to ban
In Northeast Ohio, many municipalities are choosing to continue their bans while others have elected to wait and see how the new law plays out in neighboring towns.
Some larger cities, including Cleveland, have decided against legalizing fireworks.
Cleveland City Councilman Mike Polensek, who chairs council's Safety Committee, cited concerns with quality of life and safety, including fireworks-related injuries and property damage, as reasons for continuing Cleveland鈥檚 ban.
鈥淪o that鈥檚 why we took a hard line in Cleveland, and we鈥檙e gonna continue to take a hard line, because we want peace and quiet in our neighborhoods; we want quality of life restored. And if not, we're going to continue to see people leave the urban areas, and that鈥檚 not good for anyone,鈥� Polensek said in a phone interview.
A question for municipalities continuing to ban fireworks is policing. Illegal fireworks usage is typically ignored by law enforcement.
Polensek acknowledges this difficulty and notes that many constituents wanted the city to intensify enforcement.
鈥淭hey want more tickets given out, and they want more action from the police, which is a problem because we don鈥檛 have the officers that we need to do the kind of enforcement that we would all like,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e're looking to the administration to enforce the laws as best as they can. Are they going to be everywhere? No, we know that,鈥� Polensek continued. 鈥淚t has to come down to a lot of personal responsibility, of individuals, of homeowners, of tenants to be mindful of their neighbors and their neighbors鈥� pets, individuals who have post-traumatic stress disorder, kids.鈥�
Even smaller communities acknowledge the difficulty of prosecuting fireworks-related violations. Huron, with a population of about 7,000, has legalized fireworks.
City Manager Matt Lasko hopes by making the law more clear, it鈥檒l 鈥渃lean up the turning a blind eye to individuals doing it on the Fourth of July or around the Fourth of July and us and other cities not doing anything about it.鈥�
Members from Huron鈥檚 police and fire departments are part of the Safety Committee that supported the law. Lasko notes the emphatic support of Huron鈥檚 Safety Committee, discussions with residents and the overall personality of Huron鈥檚 community all went into the multi-faceted decision.
鈥淲e are a very sought after community with a lot of established residents as well that have respect for their neighbors and those around them,鈥� Lasko said in a Zoom interview. 鈥淪o it's not to say we never discussed the possibility of concerns or issues, but I think we really believe in the level of responsibility in our community that, for the most part, we鈥檙e envisioning very little in terms of issues and disturbances.鈥�
Lasko emphasizes that the law is not permanent. Huron plans to review fireworks safety annually until community leaders are confident in the law's safety.
鈥淚 truly believe this will be an annual exercise until we feel very confident based on several years of this potentially being in place or tweaked,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 cannot stress that enough about how important this annual review is moving forward.鈥�
