PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County cannot enact additional restrictions on consumer fireworks this year or next year due to public notice requirements and state restrictions enacting new bans, county officials discussed with county fire chiefs Wednesday.
Any new firework ban restrictions cannot take effect until one year after the ordinance ratifying them is approved, and the ordinance requires a 10-day notice for a public hearing, said Philip Hunsucker, county chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney, at a special county commission meeting called to consider a countywide ban on fireworks in light of recent high temperatures and dry weather.
The earliest new fireworks restrictions could be implemented is 2023, Hunsucker said.
Fireworks are banned in the City of Port Townsend, but in unincorporated Jefferson County, legal fireworks can be banned only when the county is ranked in extreme fire danger. It currently it is in the moderate risk, said Kate Dean, county commission chair.
Each year, the county commissioners receive several public comments about wanting to ban fireworks due to fire danger and noise, but the county has not enacted any new restrictions on fireworks since the ordinance that banned sky lanterns and imposing the extreme fire danger threshold in the early 2010s, Dean said.
The county is in a slightly more elevated risk for fire danger than normal, coming out of the historic heat wave, with continuing hotter days than normal, but it is not to the extreme mark, said Don Svetich, Quilcene Deputy Fire Chief.
All seven fire chiefs and assistant/deputy fire chiefs at Wednesday’s meeting were interested in further conversations about modifying the ordinance to allow for additional controls starting in 2023, with a workshop date to be decided.
The chiefs did stress the importance of increasing public messaging regarding how to safely use recreational fireworks and how to prevent fires, as well as encouraging residents to attend professional shows rather than lighting fireworks themselves.
The county Department of Emergency Management and the Department of Health, as well as the fire districts, are planning to distribute messaging through social media this week leading up to the Fourth of July.
A list of public fireworks displays on the North Olympic Peninsula can be found at www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/fourth-of-july-events-planned-on-north-olympic-peninsula.
Among the issues regarding enacting further restrictions on fireworks are the difference in climates and environments throughout the county. Port Ludlow tends to be cooler and more damp in contrast to Quilcene and Brinnon, which are normally hotter and drier.
Officials may discuss potential controls in the ordinance that would allow a specific fire district to enact further restrictions. That would give the districts the ability to fine-tune the rules for the area.
Another restriction in discussion is to limit the amount of time for lighting fireworks to 6 p.m. to midnight just on the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, rather than June 28 to July 5, dates that are currently in place.
That would be similar to restrictions other counties such as Mason have enacted.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
