Battle Ground considers changes to fireworks policies

Battle Ground officials are seeking public comment from residents about the city’s fireworks policies.

Residents can fill out a survey on the city’s website, www.cityofbg.org, until 5 p.m. April 27 and answer a few questions about fireworks. The results will be provided to the councilors at their May 7 council meeting.

The survey asks residents how familiar they are with the city’s fireworks regulations, where they are most likely to get their information about fireworks regulations, if they typically purchase and discharge fireworks during the Fourth of July, if they’ve observed the use of fireworks in their neighborhood around the Fourth of July and their level of concern about personal use and discharge of fireworks in the city.

Councilors will look at a variety of options with regard to fireworks, Mayor Mike Dalesandro said.

Those options include: leaving the regulations as they are now; limiting the days and/or types of fireworks allowed or lastly, implementing an all-out ban.

The councilors discussed fireworks at their March 19 meeting, and Dalesandro said opinion differed on the council about the current regulations. The city currently allows the use of fireworks from June 28 through July 5, and from Dec. 27 through Dec. 31. Those are the full time frames that state law allows for the sale and discharge of fireworks. Other cities in Clark County have changed firework regulations in recent years, most notably in Vancouver.

Vancouver city councilors voted to ban fireworks in city limits in 2015, and 2017 was the first year with the ordinance in place. Vancouver is the only city in Clark County with an outright ban on fireworks. Dalesandro said Vancouver’s decision was part of the reason for Battle Ground officials talking about fireworks.

“That’s what really got this going,” he said. “The last two years, we’ve had more people complaining. It’s ticked up for sure. What percentage of the population that represents, I don’t know. When you start getting complaints about something regularly, that makes you think as a policymaker.”

There has been an increase in complaints around the county about fireworks in the last few years, according to the Clark County Fire Marshal’s office, it was shared during the March 19 Battle Ground council meeting. The office received 250 complaints between June 28 and July 5, 2015, which jumped up to 430 complaints in 2016 and 570 in 2017, according to the Battle Ground presentation. In the city, Fire District 3 responded to six incidents involving fireworks in 2017, up from zero in 2016 and three each in 2014 and 2015.

If Battle Ground officials do change the fireworks regulations, they might look at what has been done in east county, where Camas and Washougal have made changes in recent years. Camas allows fireworks on July 3-4 and Dec. 31, whereas Washougal allows them on July 4 and Dec. 31. In 2017, Washougal councilors also voted to only allow for “safe and sane” fireworks, which the city identified as ones that are neither projectile nor explosive, such as fountains, sparklers, smokeballs and pinwheels. That new ordinance goes into effect in December.

“All of these changes and other discussions have been going on about what other jurisdictions are going to do have led us to take a look at (fireworks),” Dalesandro said.

Both Camas and Washougal also have ordinances in place that the mayors of each city can use to limit firework sales and/or use for emergency purposes, such as if it’s been a particularly dry season leading to an increased risk for fire. To do that, the mayors have to consult with the fire marshal, fire chief and other officials. Neither city has used it yet. Dalesandro said the councilors have looked into similar ordinances they can bring to Battle Ground.

“We’re pretty well aligned on working on that language and making that happen in any update we do,” Dalesandro said.