Could Fireworks Permits Be a Thing of the Past?

As a dry season raised further concerns over the safety of allowing individual fireworks permits, the Public Safety Committee discussed how to beef up the language in the ordinance, and even bandied about the idea of eliminating individual fireworks permits altogether.

in his heavily wooded neighborhood at the committee's June meeting was again present to express his desire to do away with personal fireworks.

"I'm very concerned paying taxes and not having a safe place to live," Templin told the committee at its meeting Wednesday evening. "I don't want to leave my home on the third of July and worry that I won't have a home to return to."

Templin also pointed out that the aerial fireworks allowed under the ordinance also carry and can set fires in places that the fire department can't get to.

Alderman Kert Harenda, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, set up the issue as a discussion item, so no action was taken at the meeting, but he asked for a recommendation from the fire department at their next meeting. Discussion included the following options:

• Eliminating personal permits, as other neighboring municipalities do not allow them
• Requiring a site plan for where fireworks will be used to determine safety
• Defining more specifically what types of fire fighting equipment will be required by individual permit holders to prevent fire hazards
• Looking into current Fire Program Analysis (FPA) standards to determine what further language could be included in the city's ordinance.

Harenda pointed out that often the offenders are not permit holders, and that while the city does not allow for the selling of class C fireworks (considered as commercial grade), they can be purchased elsewhere and set off.

Others suggested that taking away the individual permits could be offset by having a more public display of fireworks for the 4th of July in the city. Currently, the fireworks on the 3rd are set off over Little Muskego Lake and the permit is pulled by the Little Muskego Lake Association, but access to viewing them is limited. In addition, Muskego's growth has greatly limited alternate sites that would allow for accessibility and visibility.

The committee will revisit the issue and consider possible changes to the ordinance at their next meeting in September.