Boise fire chief says he’s drawing support for his bid to close loophole allowing sales of illegal fireworks in Idaho
Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan says he’s drawing support for his push to close a loophole in Idaho’s fireworks laws that allows illegal aerial fireworks – those that shoot into the air and explode – to be sold in Idaho, as long the purchaser signs an affidavit promising to take them out of state to use them. “We were extremely fortunate no lives were lost in the Table Rock fire,” Doan said in a statement; the 2,500-acre Boise foothills fire, which destroyed a home and threatened hundreds of others, was caused by illegal fireworks. “It’s time we fix this loophole in the fireworks law to better protect Idaho citizens, their property, and our firefighters who risk their lives battling these fires.”
Doan said he’s already drawn support for his proposal to ask state lawmakers to make it illegal to purchase or possess illegal fireworks in Idaho from the Ada County sheriff, Boise police chief, Southwest Idaho Fire Chiefs Association, Meridian police chief, Meridian fire chief and Caldwell fire chief.
Idaho’s fireworks laws, which date back to 1997, regulate the sale of “nonaerial common fireworks,” and allow local jurisdictions to make their own rules. Boise, for example, allows the sale only of “safe and sane” fireworks – those that don’t fly up into the air or send sparks or other burning material long distances, or explode like firecrackers – under certain conditions. But it bans all fireworks in the tinder-dry Boise foothills.
The loophole that concerns Doan, in Idaho Code 39-2610, says, “The provisions of this chapter do not apply to and shall not prohibit … The importation, storage and sale of fireworks for export from this state, or interstate commerce in fireworks.” That’s the clause that Idaho sellers of illegal fireworks rely on to sell sky rockets and the like, while requiring buyers to sign something saying they won’t use them inside the state.
Doan began speaking out about the “absolutely ludicrous” law last week, as the Table Rock fire was charring the foothills above Boise; the Idaho Statesman has a full report here from its July 1 editions.
“In Boise, we do not allow illegal fireworks to be sold in the city limits. We passed an ordinance that they cannot sell them in Boise. But they just go down the road and buy them in other places,” Doan told the Statesman. “I am going to propose that we change the law. Illegal fireworks means it is illegal to buy, sell and use.”
Aerial fireworks are illegal to use statewide without a special permit. Boise and Ada County prohibit all fireworks in the foothills, the Statesman reported; fireworks also are prohibited on all state and federal public lands. “One of the biggest problems we have, when you walk around on the Fourth of July, is it is a war zone of illegal fireworks,” Doan said.
According to an Idaho Statesman analysis, fireworks caused more than 350 fires in Idaho, burning 26,000 acres, between 1992 and 2013. More than 70 of those fires were 10 acres or larger. Doan said this year saw an increase in the number of fireworks-caused fires on July 4 or the early hours of July 5.
