PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County’s board of commissioners discussed the near-future challenges for fireworks: Managing fire safety, realistic law enforcement policy, public education and creating channels for community celebrations.
In 2023, a high fire danger declaration from the state Department of Natural Resources led to a county fireworks ban at the end of June.
“That was a tough time, just because it was right before the fourth (of July),” Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner said Monday. “So there were actually stands that were in there to make money for the kids and they got closed down two days before the fourth of July. There were some pretty upset parents and the school was pretty upset.”
County Fire Marshal Phil Cecere said his office should know if the weather conditions are dry enough to warrant banning fireworks 10 to 14 days in advance. It’s also possible for conditions to become dry enough to raise fire danger levels before that, or after that, at any time, he added.
Pernsteiner said enforcing fireworks code can be challenging.
“It’s difficult because everybody takes vacation around July,” Pernsteiner said. “I think we’re down to like three people on days and three people on nights already for that weekend. (July 4) falls on a Friday this year, so there’s going to be a lot more people out.”
The sheriff’s office expects to receive a high volume of calls on July 4, in addition to calls not relating to fireworks, and some of them could be higher priority in nature, Pernsteiner said.
Another challenge for enforcement is the cost of tickets as outlined in county code, commissioner Greg Brotherton said.
Violating the county’s fireworks code, including high fire danger bans, could lead to a $1,000 ticket for a first civil infraction. A second infraction would cost $2,000.
“Our ticket costs too much, so there was a lot of hesitancy to (write) a ticket,” Brotherton said. “I mean, if it was a $100 ticket, I think it would be a lot easier to write a ticket for fireworks, if it was a ban.”
“What we run into, Irondale Park’s a prime example, the park’s closed fireworks; you can’t shoot fireworks there,” Patrol Sgt. Brett Anglin said. “I show up, a single deputy, there’s 300 people shooting fireworks, what am I going to do? Am I going to cite a $1,000 cite to 300 people and then get my car turned over or something? I mean, it’s very difficult.”
Brotherton said he’s ready to consider enacting a countywide ban.
“It’s very polarizing,” he said. “At the same time, I see which side of it I’m on. One injury, one house burned down, it doesn’t take much.”
State law would not allow the county commissioners to place an immediate ban restricting fireworks for this year. If they enact a ban, it would go into effect a year after it passes.
Should the commissioners adopt a new code banning fireworks, they discussed waiting till July 6 of this year, so the code would not go into effect until after July 4, 2026, the country’s 250-year anniversary.
Commissioner Heather Dudley-Nollette said the board also could look at minimizing the barriers to creating permitted public fireworks displays.
“I would like to incentivize the public displays and people actually going through the process to get insurance and permits,” commissioner Heidi Eisenhour said. “I would like to see us allow for community public displays.”
Dudley-Nollette mentioned informal consumer displays that already take place, one at Irondale county beach park and one at Adelma beach. She said she would like to see if there’s a reasonable path to making the events safe.
Brotherton mentioned the possibility of designated safe zones where fireworks could be set off.
“If we knew that there were two or three places, then we can have fire trucks there and a deputy there and know that there was like a safety net in place if anything goes awry in any of those two or three places,” Eisenhour said. “I don’t know if that’s even done anywhere.”
The commissioners discussed making efforts to keep the public updated on fire danger levels and a ban, should it occur, using electronic signs on U.S. Highway 101 west of the Hood Canal Bridge and in Blyn.
“If there’s a high fire danger, and if we have to put restrictions in place, we need to, hopefully, do that much sooner than we did two years ago,” Eisenhour said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com
