By Susan Mende
The Watertown Daily Times
CANTON, N.Y. — A debate has ignited over whether the St. Lawrence County Legislature should allow retailers to sell sparklers and a few other kinds of fireworks for a limited time before the Fourth of July and again before New Year’s.
The sale of sparklers and other fireworks has been prohibited in New York for several years, but a change in the state’s penal law enacted Jan. 20 allows for the sale and use of “sparkling devices.” The revised law allows the items to be sold by retailers each year from June 1 to July 5 and again from Dec. 26 to Jan. 2.
In order to allow sparkling devices, individual counties and cities have to enact local laws, pursuant to section 405 of the state’s penal law.
County Emergency Services Coordinator Michael J. LeCuyer said county fire officials as well as emergency services workers are opposed to adopting a local law.
They argue that sparkling devices and other fireworks cause fires and injuries, especially burns to children, and place fire and rescue workers at risk.
The St. Lawrence County Fire Advisory Board voted against allowing the devices at its April 16 meeting.
“They were unanimous against this,” Mr. LeCuyer said. “I support them. However, if all the counties around us adopt this, it will probably happen in St. Lawrence County.”
Supporters argue that people who want sparkling devices already buy them from other states where they’re legal and use them in the north country and that allowing similar sales here would provide much-needed sales tax revenue.
Mr. LeCuyer said he’s aware of a handful of other counties that plan to allow sparklers, including Franklin, Washington, Clinton and Fulton.
Legislature Vice Chairman Kevin M. Acres, R-Madrid, said he’s in favor of allowing sparkler sales and he was contacted by a constituent who wants the opportunity to sell them.
“You see plenty of families using sparklers at picnics and other events,” Mr. Acres said. “I don’t think we’d generate a huge amount of sales tax. My premise is that if they want them, St. Lawrence County residents are going to purchase them from neighboring counties. I guess for me, it’s an issue of freedom.”
Legislator Rick Perkins, D-Parishville, said he also supports allowing the sale of sparkling devices.
On the opposing side, Legislator Travis E. Dann, R-Gouverneur, serves on the county’s fire advisory board and said he’s adamantly opposed because he feels the amount of sales tax revenue that would be generated is not worth the risk to firefighters and emergency responders.
“The irony of gas stations selling fireworks was not lost on that board and shouldn’t be lost on us,” Mr. Dann said. “I won’t support it.”
In Jefferson County, officials have been contacted by vendors interested in selling sparklers, according to Board of Legislators Chairwoman Carolyn D. Fitzpatrick.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick said she was not planning to bring the item up for a vote.
Jefferson County Fire and Emergency Management Director Joseph D. Plummer said he would not support the sale of sparklers in the county.
“The stance I take on it is I am against it,” Mr. Plummer said. “It’s not an anti-sparkler thing but a safety issue. There are public places that offer all kinds of fireworks shows. Our stance is: leave it to the professionals.”
However, Lewis County officials are poised to move forward and have scheduled a public hearing for May 5 on a local law that would allow the sparklers. Lewis County Chairman Michael A. Tabolt, R-Croghan, and Legislator Jerry H. King, R-West Leyden, chairman of Courts and Law Committee, said they have received no negative feedback from the fire departments in regard to allowing sparkling devices.
The fireworks are already being bought by people in other states and brought back here, Mr. Tabolt said.
The state Association of Fire Chiefs as well as the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York have gone on record opposing the measure, outlining their arguments in letters to state and local officials.
The manufacturers of fireworks have been lobbying New York State for the change for several years. In November, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo finally agreed to exempt sparkling devices from the state’s fireworks ban.
Sparkling devices are defined as “ground based or handheld devices that produce a shower of colored sparks and/or a colored flame, audible crackling or whistling noise and smoke.”
The items include cylinder-shaped and cone fountains that can be placed on the ground or held in the hand. The fountains shoot a shower of sparks and smoke. Wooden sparklers/dipped sticks, party poppers and snappers also are included.
The law limits the type, size and construction of sparkling devices.
Mr. LeCuyer said fire officials are concerned about the chance of fires because the sparkling devices can be sold only during a six-week period. As a result, unsold fireworks may be stored with combustible items such as motor oil, cigarette lighters and tobacco products which are commonly sold at convenience stores and gas stations.
They question whether local code enforcement officials will have time to enforce the law and make sure the sparkling devices are being stored properly.
According to the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, the most recent data from the National Fire Protection Agency shows that an estimated 17,800 reported fires were started by fireworks and 9,600 fireworks-related injuries were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2011.
About 1,000 of the injuries involved sparklers and bottle rockets, and 26 percent of the injuries were suffered by children under age 15, FASNY said.
“The inherent risks not only associated with the use of fireworks, but also the proper storage, raise strong concerns among our members. The statistics show, as does our experience, that the danger to the community and our first responders is substantial,” the FASNY letter said.
The state fire chiefs association argues that community safety should take precedence over the profit of the fireworks industry.
“Is the potential for any increased tax revenue or the desire to wave a sparkling device at the Fourth of July worth the potential danger to a child or the significant risk of fire at any facility that sells pyrotechnics?” the fire chiefs’ letter asked.
Times staff writers Daniel Flatley and Whitney Randolph contributed to this report.
___
(c)2015 Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.