SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Many West Virginians are expected to ring in the New Year with fireworks. A wider and more powerful range of celebratory pyrotechnics were legalized earlier this year by the legislature in West Virginia both for sale and use.
However, the first holiday under the new law, Independence Day, created a large number of complaints about their use. The complaints prompted many municipalities in West Virginia to enact their own ordinances to reign in the home fireworks shows.
“A lot of people were using fireworks and we had a lot of complaints from citizens,” said South Charleston Fire Chief Virgil White. “Some of the elderly people were scared and a lot of people’s pets were really upset. We were having a lot of issues with that.”
South Charleston City Council approved a measure which limited the use of fireworks to certain holidays within the city limits, which includes New Year’s Eve. The ordinance limits the time frame for shooting them off from 10 am. to 12:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day. White said the complaints were keeping the city police department tied up since many of the fireworks sound like gunshots and often authorities are called to what they believe is a shooting, but turns out to be fireworks.
“We wanted to insure we have something in place,” said White. “If people were illegally discharging their fireworks we could do something to them.”
Various towns and cities around the state passed similar ordinances, but the details of each ordinance vary from town to town. All are put into effect in the spirit of making the holiday safer and allowing for some personal fireworks use. White and his department will be on high alert Saturday as the New Year arrives for any misuse or violations. One part of South Charleston’s ordinance forbids the use of fireworks while under the influence of alcohol.
“People get kind of crazy and tend to get creative when they’re letting off fireworks,” White explained. “You see it on YouTube all the time when people think they have a good idea with fireworks and they do crazy stuff. It leads to somebody getting injured or sometimes killed.”
Those hoping to shoot off fireworks to welcome 2017 should carefully consult the local ordinance in the town or municipality where the celebrating will be happening on Saturday.