West Paris discusses fireworks danger

WEST PARIS — Since fireworks became legal, residents of Pioneer Street have not been happy, they say.

They even feel somewhat unsafe.

"I have two small children that are trying to sleep," Chris Bisson told selectmen at a June 28 meeting. "It scares the living crap out of them and it scares my wife."

He said that just a week before, his neighbors were setting off some fireworks that seemed "awfully close" to his property. "I went outside the next morning and there was debris within three feet of my house," he said.

"I have a metal roof, but still," he said. "Sunday night they were setting them off again."

Another resident, Glendon Hadley, asked the board whether it was considering an ordinance to ban – or at least regulate – the use of fireworks.

"If you don't have ordinance in place before it starts, it's almost really too late," said Hadley. "I don't have a problem if anyone wants to have fireworks, but not underneath my window." 

Hadley asked the selectmen why some towns have an ordinance and others don't.

"Some towns had an ordinance before this even happened," Hadley said. "What's the problem here? We have a barking dog ordinance, but we don't have any problem with barking dogs."

When fireworks became legal, the state left it up to the towns to ban fireworks within their own borders.

Selectman Wade Rainey said the biggest reason the town doesn't have an ordinance banning fireworks is because it doesn't have its own police department to enforce the ordinance.

"We really don't have any coverage on it," answered Rainey. He said the same goes for all small towns without police departments.

"Anybody who has a complaint should call the State Fire Marshal's office – and get them off their duff, so maybe they will do something about it," Rainey said.

Selectmen said they believe the newness of fireworks will wear off after the Fourth of July. 

Rainey also suggested the cost of fireworks would be reason enough to stop people from regularly buying them.

During the meeting, Fire Chief Norm St. Pierre told the board fireworks are in fact a problem in the town.

"There is a great concern," he said, "especially within close proximity of buildings." But so far, there have been no huge fires, he said, other than a small grass fire in Buckfield earlier this year. 

Resident Kathy Rigano, who lives on Pioneer Street, said that not long ago, fireworks caused a grass fire at her house. "I looked, and there was smoke coming up out of my green grass," she told selectmen.

St. Pierre said that, in most cases, it's not even adults setting off the fireworks – "It's kids." 

He told the board that a lot of them are aiming them at people in traffic, or even lighting them off inside the high school.

One resident was even concerned about the toxic contents that fireworks leave behind in the air, pointing out that "it stays in the air for days." She said she was worried about the harmful effects it can have on the human body.

According to St. Pierre, on high fire danger days, no one should be lighting off fireworks, period.

"We are definitely going to be busier," said St. Pierre of the fire department. "We will just have to see how next week plays out."