Council weighs fireworks ban

The nation’s capital is expected Tuesday to consider an emergency plan to ban fireworks before the Fourth of July weekend.

The plan is being proposed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, and is drawing mixed reaction among the city’s 13 council members.

“I hear complaints all the time,” said D.C. Council member Jim Graham, a Ward 1 Democrat who worked with the mayor on the bill. “July Fourth and few days before and a few days after, [fireworks] are going off all night.”

Some residents on Monday were more expressive.

“It’s dangerous for kids,” said John McCall, of Northeast. “There’s a mess after it’s over and fireworks land in my yard, then go off. The whole thing is very unruly. Some of these things are like bombs.”

City police and fire officials said last year they responded to 4,000 complaints during one 12-hour period and put out 14 fires related to fireworks.

Other council members say they are reluctant to ban the American tradition.

“Personally, I want to be able to play with sparklers in the back yard with my kids,” said council member Kwame Brown, at-large Democrat. “But I have to listen to the residents [who] say they don’t want them anymore.”

The bill would ban the sale and use of all fireworks and give the Metropolitan Police Department the authority to enforce the ban and fine people who violate the law. It would not ban the use of fireworks by professional pyrotechnics handlers.

The District, like 39 states, allows certain types of fireworks such as sparklers and fountains and bans explosives or fireworks that leave the ground, which are generally considered more dangerous.

However, data from a 2006 report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) found that 21 percent of fireworks-related injuries were caused by sparklers, the same as by firecrackers.

In 2005, fireworks caused an estimated 1,800 structure fires and 700 vehicle fires nationally, according to a NFPA report.

The fires injured about 60 people and caused $39 million in direct property damage.

In 2006, about 9,200 people were treated at emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries.

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