After Utah’s first summer with a new fireworks law, public safety officials and many citizens say tweaking is in order.
While data is being collected from across the state, the initial reaction is that the month-long “fireworks season” is too long.
“The complaints I’ve heard from citizens are the noise,” said Terry Keefe, Layton police chief and president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association. He said people complained that it was way too long a period for fireworks, and that it had a bad effect on pets, especially dogs.
“Several people were not happy with the new cakes fireworks because of the debris in their yards,” Keefe said. Cakes are multi-shot devices that fire off aerial shells or mortars from a stable base.
Sandy resident Tanya Lewis is glad the season is over. She says her life can now go back to normal. “My son, who is four, can sleep at night and my neighborhood is no longer going to sound like a war zone,” Lewis said.
One of the reasons behind the law change was to deter Utahns from driving to Evanston, Wyo., to buy fireworks and retain the sales tax revenue in Utah.
Lewis said she understands that and knows people want to set off fireworks for the holidays. “But to set them off for that long, so close to people’s houses when we have to go to work and day care at 6 a.m., I just think is ridiculous,” she said.
The new law allows fireworks to be bought and set off between June 26 and July 26. The previous law allowed fireworks to be purchased beginning on June 19, but they could be set off only three days before or after July 4 and 24.