Knowing what's legal can help you avoid trouble this fireworks season
(Published Monday, June 25, 2007 12:08:27 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Brian Reisinger Gazette staff
From small-time backyard fun to large and loud displays, fireworks are a common sight this time of year. Perhaps less familiar are the regulations, penalties, safety issues and chemistry associated with all the flashing and booming.
Here's the lowdown.
The law Fireworks legal in Wisconsin: Fireworks that stay put and just smoke or fizzle are OK. This includes sparklers, stationary cones and fountains, snakes, smoke bombs, caps, noisemakers or confetti poppers with less than a quarter grain of explosive mixture.
Fireworks that require permits: Anything that explodes or leaves the ground-from Roman candles, firecrackers, and bottle rockets, to streaming, booming fireworks displays. Permits must be issued by municipalities to groups. Fireworks vendors cannot issue them, and individuals cannot receive them.
Confusion: Laws surrounding the purchase across state lines of fireworks that require permits appear to be in limbo, or at least subject to spotty enforcement. It's a common practice for Wisconsin residents to purchase fireworks without permits in Illinois or Iowa and bring them back to Wisconsin, where they are illegal to use. Residents from other states do the same in Wisconsin. Operators of fireworks stands say such sales are legal. But the Wisconsin Department of Justice indicates on its Web site that it's illegal to sell to residents of other states within Wisconsin's borders, suggesting that at least one side of the cross-state fireworks business is illegal.
Local law enforcement focuses on possession within its jurisdiction, so if you're not supposed to have them and get caught, it doesn't matter how or where you bought them.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Justice, courtesy of the Rock County Sheriff's Department
Enforcement Any violations Janesville police can prove will result in a ticket of $753 for an adult and $500 for a juvenile, said Sgt. Rick Larson. Extra bike patrols will be watching for violations on the Fourth of July, Larson said.
Safety Fireworks injuries have been on the rise for the last several years, with 10,800 nationwide in 2005, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The highest rates were among children ages 10 to 14.
To avoid adding to the above statistic, follow these safety tips from the Janesville Fire Department:
-- Never allow children to handle, light or play with fireworks.
-- Read all instructions and warnings on fireworks labels.
-- Stick to what's legal without a permit.
Steve Hubing, president of the Wisconsin Pyrotechnic Arts Guild, also advises people to wear non-flammable clothing and eye protection.
How fireworks work Most fireworks contain some combination of fuel, oxidizer and chemicals for color and effect. From there, it's just a matter of how much of each and how it's all packaged.
-- Sparklers, above, are made by dipping a wire into a slurry of fuel, oxidizer and other chemicals that modify burn rate and add color. Aluminum is a common fuel in sparklers to provide that familiar sparkling quality.
-- Smoke bombs are a slower-burning mixture of fireworks chemicals, with dye to color the smoke.
-- Bottle rockets shoot skyward because the gas expelled from them must push through a tiny nozzle, propelling them quickly before they explode.
-- Roman candles are formed by placing layers of explosive packets within a tube. Black powder beneath each layer shoots the material out of the tube, and a slower-burning compound delays the explosion until the packets are airborne.
-- Large aerial display fireworks are larger, more complex combinations of fuel, oxidizer and coloring or effect chemicals. The packages can range from 3 to 16 inches in diameter and sometimes contain pounds of material.
-- You must be licensed by the state and federal government to manufacture fireworks.
To find out more about pyrotechnics, visit www.wpag.us
Source: Steve Hubing, president, Wisconsin Pyrotechnic Arts Guild
