Fireworks Offenders Hard To Catch Two Spokane Residents Busted; But No Related Fires Reported

The problem with tracking down fireworks offenders is that they tend to disappear along with the trails of sparks.

That’s what Spokane Fire Marshal Garry Miller found on July 3 and 4 when he set out to slap them with citations.

“There were certainly fireworks going off,” Miller said, “but by the time we got there, they’d set them off and run.”

At least two Spokane residents were busted - a middle-aged man and a juvenile.

Miller spotted the man shooting off bottle rockets in the front yard of his northeast Spokane home after someone called to complain.

“He wasn’t even aware of the ban, so he told me,” said Miller, referring to the countywide ban on fireworks.

Six deputy fire marshals scoured the county, looking for people using fireworks. Offenders can be fined up to $5,000 and sentenced to up to one year in jail.

Maybe Miller didn’t issue as many citations as he’d hoped, but the fireworks ban, in effect since 1992, appears to have served its purpose.

No fires caused by fireworks occurred in Spokane, although a few false alarms were called in, he said.

Fireworks didn’t cause any fires in the two previous years, either, fire officials said. In 1991, the year before the ban took effect, 121 fires were reported.

By Wednesday, fire officials in surrounding areas had reported no fireworks-related fires. Two small grass fires, however, may have been caused by fireworks, said Eric Olson, deputy fire marshal for Fire District 1.

Spokane’s four private hospitals didn’t treat anyone injured by fireworks this year, said hospital spokeswomen. The year before the ban, a dozen people were hurt.

Judging by the popping sounds going off around him Monday and Tuesday, Miller suspects some people suffered at least minor injuries.

“The only ones we hear about are the ones taken to hospitals.”

, DataTimes