Are Fireworks Legal In New York? It Depends Where You Live

NEW YORK — If you’re planning a do-it-yourself fireworks display to celebrate the Fourth of July this year, knowing New York's law on consumer fireworks is step one — and knowing local laws is step two.

Fireworks laws have been greatly deregulated since the turn of the century. Some types of fireworks are legal everywhere, except in Massachusetts, where it’s illegal to buy or sell consumer fireworks, or bring them in from states where they are legal. Many states allow the setting off of fireworks in the days before and after major holidays.

State law in New York allows for selling and using sparklers — ground-based or handheld devices that create a shower of colored sparks and flames — but limits the types and sizes of the devices. Sparklers must be hand-held or mounted on a base or spike, and be no more than 500 grams of pyrotechnic composition.

However, if you live on Long Island, or in parts of the Hudson Valley or New York City, sparklers are banned.

The following counties have prohibited the sale and use of sparkling devices:

• Albany
• Bronx
• Columbia
• Kings
• Nassau
• New York City
• Orange (prohibited in Middletown and Newburgh only)
• Queens
• Richmond
• Schenectady
• Suffolk
• Westchester

Fireworks, including roman candles, bottle rockets, bombs, skyrockets and other aerial devices, are illegal in New York, according to the personal injury law firm Greenberg & Stein P.C. Violaters could face fines, or even up to 15 days in jail.

"The same consequences apply if you are caught with sparklers in counties where they are banned," the law firm said in a March news release.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2020 there were about 15,600 fireworks-related injuries nationwide that required emergency department treatment. About two-thirds of those injuries happened in a month period around the Fourth of July holiday, and about 44 percent of the injuries were burns.

In 2020, 218 New Yorkers required care from an emergency department for fireworks-related injuries, and 56 percent of these fireworks-related injuries occurred in July.

"Fourth of July celebrations are for spending time with family and friends, not for visiting the emergency room after a fireworks accident," former State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a statement last year. "It is important to teach children, and remind everyone, that fireworks are not toys and can be dangerous. I encourage New Yorkers to enjoy the numerous public fireworks displays this Independence Day instead of risking injury by putting on home fireworks shows."

Among the other states with the strictest fireworks laws is California, according to a map and list of state fireworks laws curated by Reader’s Digest. The law allows a limited window for fireworks use, from noon on June 28 through noon July 6, and restricts their use to people 16 and older.

Legal fireworks are ground and handheld sparkling devices, cylindrical and cone fountains, wheel and ground spinners, illuminating torches, and certain flitter sparklers. Prohibited fireworks are firecrackers, Roman candles, chasers, wire and wooden stick sparklers, and skyrockets.

Indiana has some of the most lenient laws. Anyone 18 or older can purchase and use fireworks whenever they want, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on non-holidays and later on holidays. All types of fireworks are legal as long as they meet U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission construction and labeling regulations.

States with stricter fireworks laws have cited data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that shows thousands of people are injured in fireworks-related accidents every year, with multiple deaths reported as well.

Fireworks injuries have spiked in recent years, and were up 25 percent between 2006 and 2021, according to the latest available emergency room data collected by the Consumer Product Safety Commission,

Some 11,500 people were treated at emergency rooms for fireworks injuries in 2021, down from 15,600 in 2020 when pandemic restrictions kept people at home. Nine people died from fireworks injuries in 2021 — six because of fireworks misuse and one because of a mortar launch malfunction, according to the Consumer Product Safety Association. That compares to 26 fireworks-related deaths in 2020.

The report found that 74 percent of the total estimated fireworks-related injuries occurred from June 18 to July 18, 2021.

Fireworks have always been part of Independence Day celebrations. After the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that Independence Day “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

The first Independence Day fireworks display occurred on July 4, 1777. They came in only one color — orange — back then, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Today, they light up the sky with red, white and blue, the color of the U.S. flag, but also other colors.

At the turn of the century, about a third of fireworks displays were professional shows, according to Scientific American.

Since then, states have gradually deregulated fireworks, partly to tap lost tax revenue from residents crossing state lines to buy fireworks in states with more-lenient laws, but also because of lax enforcement.