The Bristol Fireworks Advisory Committee presented a two-page list of suggested fireworks regulations, including a sales ban, to the Bristol Board of Selectmen June 20.
The recommendations also include weather-dependent limits on use. As proposed, Bristol residents would not be able to ignite fireworks on days when the Maine Forest Service predicts high, very high or extreme fire danger or at times when the National Weather Service reports wind speeds of 15 miles per hour or higher.
The committee also recommends a ban on use within 75 feet of any structure and a time limit of 5-10 p.m. in order to “minimize noise, disturbance and stress on domestic, farm and wild animals.”
Should the town enact the recommendations, fireworks users would be required to keep a fire extinguisher and/or a water source such as a five-gallon bucket or a garden hose at hand to douse any fires.
Another recommendation would allow the town to charge a fire suppression fee, “which may exceed many thousands of dollars,” in the event a fireworks-related fire necessitates an emergency response, according to the document.
Bristol residents would have to pass an ordinance in order to enforce, or authorize outside law enforcement agencies to enforce, the recommendations.
A vote would likely take place at the annual town meeting in March 2013, officials said, unless the town holds a special town meeting later this year, as may be necessary to deal with the installation of a septic system at Bristol Consolidated School.
“We’re obviously going to have to, whether we like it or not, see how this is going to go,” Bristol Fireworks Advisory Committee member Mike Witte said. “It may not go well and we may want to consider a prohibitive ordinance to just ban them.”
Selectman Bill Benner expressed support for restrictions on use.
“I’m really concerned because one of my neighbors is renting and they’re blasting away all the time,” Benner said.
A committee member suggested that rates of use might drop as the novelty of legal fireworks wears off, but Benner disagreed.
“I think they’ve opened up a bucket of worms here,” he said. “I think it’s going to get much worse. There are major problems here, as they said at that demonstration,” he said, referring to a June 12 fireworks safety demonstration at the Bristol/South Bristol Transfer Station.
Benner encouraged the committee to shape its recommendations into an ordinance so the town would be ready at the next opportunity, whether it’s a special town meeting or the annual town meeting.
“At least we’ll be in a position where we can have some control,” he said.
The committee also agreed to draft a handout to explain the state law already in place.
The provisions of “An Act to Legalize the Sale, Possession and Use of Fireworks” became law January 1. The law allows municipalities to enact ordinances to restrict or ban the possession, sale and/or use of fireworks.
The selectmen will meet with the Bristol Budget Committee Wed., June 27 at 6:30 p.m. Their next regular meeting will be Wed., July 11 at 7 p.m.
