A Pretty Poison

Taimi Dunn Gorman is involved with Freedom From Fireworks, sponsor of an initiative to ban fireworks in Bellingham.

It’s a warm summer evening and along the shores of Bellingham Bay, picnickers graze, Frisbees are thrown, and dogs frolic on the beach. As night descends, sharp noises punctuate the quiet, giving way to explosions and flashing lights. Some cower in their homes, soothing pets or turning up the TV. It’s not a war in the traditional sense, but an unspoken battle of sorts between neighbors and an assault on the environment.

The next day, remnants of the carnage remain on the shoreline, paper and metal, matches and garbage. It clutters the streets, sidewalks, fields and yards. Small fires have been started in the night. Some are put out quickly, others requiring a visit from professionals. A few roofs are sparked and hosed down. The noise continues the next night and the next. In fact, in some neighborhoods it goes on for weeks.

Fireworks are the culprit, and the damage is beyond just the obvious noise and fire.

Fireworks smoke consists mainly of fine toxic dusts, a particulate matter that enters the lungs, threatening those with asthma or multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). They can also contain a mixture of sulfur-coal compounds, traces of heavy metals, and other toxic chemicals or gases. The combustion cloud can contain harmful fumes such as ozone, sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide. Smoke from consumer fireworks is released at ground level, making inhalation more likely than with professional displays. Fireworks produce greenhouse gases, including Carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone and contribute to climate change.

Consumer and illegal fireworks are often shot over bodies of water, in the case of Bellingham, into the bay or parts of Lake Whatcom, the drinking water source for the city. Spent sparklers and matches are tossed into the water after use.

When the population of Bellingham was smaller, so was the problem. Houses were not so tightly packed together, neighbors generally knew one another and the July 4thcelebration was an enjoyable family event. People picked up their garbage and partied within reasonable hours. With the explosion of growth, (over 14,000 new residents in Bellingham in just the past 10 years), many people have become less tolerant of the noise, litter and danger involved with the holiday. In fact, nearly 50 other Washington State cities of all sizes have successfully banned the use of fireworks, most recently, Olympia. The Spokane ban is 20 years old.

We are one of the final holdouts. Why has it taken so long? It’s been a long-term process of education and awareness in the community. Reservation fireworks have been illegal in the city for many years. Only in the past few years has the city actually restricted legal fireworks use to a 24-hour period, a law that’s been flagrantly ignored. People who protest the use of fireworks in letters to the editor become immediate targets, called anti-American, unpatriotic, and told to move away. Blogs on the issue at the Bellingham Herald website are full of emotionally heated words and occasional threats to supporters of any regulation or ban.

Up until the past couple of years, the public has been silent on this issue, until a petition was started online in April of 2010 (at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bellingham_consumer_fireworks_ban.) The core group of a half dozen fireworks ban supporters began growing immediately, especially right after July 4th. There are now 450 signers online, sharing comments and support. From this group, a hard copy petition has been created and is currently on the street. It bans all personal fireworks from the Bellingham city limits, but does not end public displays. Once 5,000 legal signatures are obtained, it will be up for public vote on the November 2012, ballot.

The comments on the Freedom From Fireworks blog are equally passionate. Veterans with PTSD plead for a stop to the noise. Pet owners complain of having to sedate their pets, lock them up or take them to quieter locations. The Whatcom Humane Society reports dozens of lost animals during the July 4thperiod each year. Wild animals hurt themselves running from the explosions, sometimes being hit by cars. Some people just want to sleep.

There are those who say that the problem locally is lack of enforcement of the current laws. Indeed, the first thing a 911 caller is asked is if the offending fireworks are legal or illegal. If the caller doesn’t know, there is usually a lack of response from law enforcement. Unless they catch someone actually in the act of lighting the firework, little can be done.

If all fireworks are illegal, there will be no doubt in a caller’s mind. In fact, with most people obeying the law, anyone breaking it will be obvious in a neighborhood. The Freedom From Fireworks Bellingham Committee has contacted nearly every community with a fireworks ban, to be told repeatedly that the law works and has cut incidents of emergency and fire to a minimum.

Although some still claim that the legal fireworks are safe, according to statistics, most fireworks injuries involve devices that are legal under current federal law.  The majority of those injured by fireworks are children under age 15.  In the spectrum of fireworks dangers, people rarely think of sparklers as a major hazard, but they reach a temperature of 2,000 degrees and cause 16 percent of the injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. That’s more injuries than were caused by rockets, and trails only the 17 percent caused by firecrackers, and the 19 percent caused by miscellaneous devices.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Association for Hand Surgery, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Center for Injury Research & Policy, Emergency Nurses Association, Fire Department Safety Officers Association, International Association of Arson Investigators, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Firefighters, International Fire Marshals Association, and Prevent Blindness America, are all in support of consumer fireworks bans throughout the U.S.

If Bellingham passes a ban, the memory of fireworks will pass into the same place as smoking on planes and dumping raw sewage into the bay.

To get involved with the campaign or find a petition to sign in your neighborhood, email cfw_in_bellingham@juno.comor visit http://freedomfromfireworks.blogspot.com for more information.