Sedgwick County officials are considering lifting a longtime ban on Fourth of July fireworks in unincorporated areas, bowing to the reality that they can't enforce their current law.
The recommendation comes from an unlikely source: county Fire Marshal Tim Millspaugh.
"As a fire marshal, I'm expected to be anti-fireworks," Millspaugh said. "I guess I'm not abiding by the fire marshal code."
In a Tuesday meeting of the County Commission and staff, Millspaugh floated three options for commissioners to consider:
* Keep the current law, which since 1979 has made it a crime to use or possess fireworks in the unincorporated county.
* Allow sales of limited types of fireworks, such as the low-yield varieties that are allowed by the city of Wichita code.
* Drop all regulation of fireworks and defer to state law, which allows most types of consumer fireworks, including aerial shells and firecrackers.
Some commissioners said they're concerned about the potential for large-scale fireworks use to spook livestock in agricultural areas of the county.
Commissioner Gwen Welshimer suggested that if commissioners decide to allow fireworks, they may want to stipulate that fireworks not be used near livestock areas.
Millspaugh said such restrictions could be written into the law.
Millspaugh also pointed out that if the county allowed fireworks, it could reap a share of the sales and use the money for firefighter overtime pay on Independence Day and public-information programs.
"We'd rather educate people on safety of fireworks rather than chew them out after the fact," he said.
Millspaugh said keeping the ban would mean fireworks will still be widely used in the unincorporated county, still be available in local cities that allow them, and "enforcement will continue to be a problem and ineffective."
But some commissioners said they're not entirely sure where public sentiment lies on fireworks. While hundreds shoot them off illegally, hundreds of others call the Sheriff's Office each year to complain about it.
"If we changed that (ban), there would be some big parties out in the county," Welshimer said.
"There are now," Millspaugh replied. "They are everywhere."
Later, he said that fireworks use is so ingrained in the unincorporated county that if the fire district — or even the Sheriff's Office — tried to enforce the ban, it could lead to confrontations and danger to the officers.
"Some people are very passionate about their right to shoot fireworks," he said. "They put it right up there with their right to bear arms."
According to Millspaugh's presentation, Bel Aire is the only incorporated city in the county that matches the county's ban.
Wichita, which contains about 75 percent of the county's population, allows fireworks as long as they don't fly, explode, or emit sparks more than 6 feet up or out.
By meeting's end, commissioners appeared to be leaning toward at least having a public hearing on loosening fireworks restrictions — and holding the meeting in the evening at the Sedgwick County Zoo to maximize participation.
In addition, there seemed to be some consensus for opening up an online public hearing to allow residents to comment via the Internet.
Welshimer and Commissioner Karl Peterjohn supported putting it to an advisory vote during the next countywide election.
However, that idea appeared to lose steam when County Counselor Richard Euson told the commissioners they don't have the authority to require Election Commissioner Bill Gale to put it on the ballot.
Commissioner David Unruh said he doesn't think an election is needed in any case.
"The people have pretty much spoken that they want to shoot fireworks," Unruh said. "They're shooting so many, we can't enforce it."
However, Peterjohn said that while it's inarguable that a lot of people are shooting fireworks, it doesn't necessarily indicate majority support for it.
"You could have 20,000 people shooting off fireworks in Sedgwick County and still, it's less than 10 percent of the population," he said.