Months of speculation about how the county would revamp its ordinance on fireworks ended Tuesday when the Clark County commissioners voted to create a zone where discharging fireworks would be limited to two days a year.
Commissioners voted 2-1 to create two separate fireworks zones, one north and one south of Northeast 219th Street. Areas south of the boundary would see restrictions placed on the discharge of fireworks, limiting their use to July 4 but also adding a new day, New Year’s Eve. The dates and times for selling fireworks in all unincorporated areas will remain the same, from June 28 until July 4.
There will be no new restrictions on the sale and discharge of fireworks north of the boundary, and New Year’s Eve will be added as a permissible night to set them off.
Despite the addition of New Year’s Eve, the county won’t allow fireworks to be sold in unincorporated areas in December.
The new ordinance, which will take effect in 2016, will only affect residents living in unincorporated areas. Cities set their own regulations regarding the sale and discharge of fireworks and they differ from what the county allows.
The new ordinance comes nearly a year after county voters approved an advisory vote calling for tightened restrictions. Commissioners didn’t formally address the matter until late spring and failed to meet a deadline to have a new ordinance in place for the summer of 2015. State law requires that local ordinances regulating fireworks be approved at least a year before becoming law.
Even with restrictions in place, it’s difficult to regulate when people set off fireworks, Clark County Fire Marshal Jon Dunaway said. In order to cite someone, the fire marshal or sheriff’s office must catch a person in the act of lighting a fuse.
“If we could modify Clark County code to cite after the fact with sufficient evidence … that might get to some of that,” he said. “There are a couple of pieces we could definitely work with.”
In 2013, the county received 31 fireworks-related calls, including fires and injuries, he said.
Commissioner Tom Mielke, who voted against the ordinance, called it a small step in creating more uniformity among jurisdictions.
“It’s a baby step because of the incorporated areas,” Mielke said, adding that they need to take the lead on the issue because the highest levels of density lie within city limits.
“I am reluctant, personally, to be more restrictive than the incorporated areas,” Mielke said.
The original proposal for the new boundary called for it to be set at Northeast 179th Street. But after hearing testimony from citizens, Commissioner David Madore made a motion to set the boundary farther north at 219th Street. Madore and Ed Barnes voted in favor of the ordinance.
Testimony at Tuesday’s meeting was mixed, with some people asserting that the new regulations were too harsh, while others said the limitations should be stricter.
Kelly O’Neill, who lives south of Northeast 179th Street, said she supported more limitations on fireworks.
An owner of horses, she said one of hers bolted over a fence in July after fireworks spooked it. Every year, O’Neill said, she and other horse owners buy sedatives to relax their animals while neighbors set off fireworks for days.
“To drug an animal for a week is not only costly, it’s unhealthy,” O’Neill said.
K.C. McGoffin, meanwhile, applauded the commissioners’ approach of having a boundary delineating two separate areas.
He called it a smart approach that should appease rural and urban voters who participated in last November’s advisory vote.
He crunched the numbers by precinct and concluded that the majority of voters in the northern part of county opposed the advisory vote, while those closer to Vancouver supported it.
The county commissioners shared that conclusion.
“Where you are in the county matters more than how many close neighbors you have,” McGoffin said. “That was the result.”
