Fireworks are still illegal in the tight residential areas of Apollo, but a new ordinance updates an 84-year-old one that deemed fireworks illegal in the entire town.
Anyone caught with fireworks under the old ordinance, which didn’t factor in inflation, could be fined $1 to $100. The borough’s new ordinance sets the maximum fine at $500, said borough Councilwoman Michelle Beck, who led the re-writing of the town’s fireworks law.
The ordinance was woefully in need of updating, she said.
“The old ordinance sounded like you couldn’t have a sparkler,” Beck said.
Sparklers and cap guns are allowed and aren’t considered fireworks, she added.
The new borough fireworks ordinance includes much of the same regulations as the state’s 2017 law: Fireworks are illegal to use within 150 feet of any structure, pointed toward any structure or person, or thrown from or into a car. Residents who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs are prohibited from setting off fireworks.
The state law allows residents to set-off aerial “Class C” fireworks such as firecrackers, Roman candles and bottle rockets.
The borough added time restrictions for fireworks: Generally, fireworks are not allowed between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. There’s an exception on New Year’s Day, when they are permitted between midnight and 12:30 a.m. and on July 4, when they are allowed until midnight, Beck said.
Council passed the changes 7-0 late last month.
Residents had been complaining about fireworks around the holidays, especially the Fourth of July, in the last several years. They’re concerned fireworks might catch their homes on fire, Beck said.
“I witnessed a lot of fireworks in the borough where you have a clear view of the sky, and there were some large ones close to people’s houses,” she said.
Fireworks have not caused serious fires in Apollo recently. However, fireworks were suspected in starting a car fire and a house fire in Pittsburgh earlier this year as well as multiple fires on the Fourth of July this year, according to Pittsburgh police.
As sales of consumer fireworks more than doubled nationally between 2019 and 2020, fireworks-related injuries have increased by 50% in the state, according to Dan Dillard, CEO of the Burn Prevention Network. In Pennsylvania, the increase in injuries from fireworks has been more of an issue since the passage of the state’s updated 2017 fireworks law, he said.
Apollo Mayor Cindee Virostek said, “the changing of the state law to bring in any kind of fireworks changed things.”
Virostek signed the new ordinance last week, adding, “We changed this for public safety reasons.”