Fireworks

We have anewly-elected board as of March of this yar. We decided as a board that we would start enforcing what previous boards have not - our association's fireworks ban. Did we have homeowners who violated the community rules? Oh, yeah. I recommended a hefty fine to stop it once and for all, but the majority of the board is against it. I am a bit stunned at their lack of cojones and lack of enforcement of the association's documents. What do we do to have any credibility as a board when this goes on?

Judy

Glen,
It's the same in the County that I am in in Tennessee. You can cross the border into Georgia and buy them but you cannot light them in Hamilton County. I live in a wildlife area and I am sure that all critters large and small are pleased to have the quiet from the ban on fireworks.

Then look at California right now. Holy Cow!!! Almost the whole State is on fire and people all over this country just don't get the concept of fire danger from the drought conditions (Except poor Iowa, Illinois and Missori. They could use some drying out) Let the professionals do the light shows. If I had my way, that's the only way that it would be.

So do check with your local enforcement to see if they will or can enforce the firing off of the junk.

We announced in our newsletter that fireworks weren't allowed and our security office was going to make some extra patrols to stop people. We do this every year - but every year, the results are mixed. Not that our officer doesn't do the job, but when he's going after people on one end, the folks on another end are shooting off the things.

This year, the "fun" started on July 2 and I guess the kids (and some adults) finally ran out last Sunday (on July 4, it sounded like a firefight in Iraq that you'd see on CNN). I even had to stop one family blowing stuff up on our playground, which is near my home (Dad says "we're leaving, we're leaving, we just have one more") As we've said over and over to our residents, how can you expect kids to behave when the adults are just as bad - and worse in some cases?

Donna it's even nuttier here I can buy them here in my county but it is against the law to use them so you have to sign a form saying you will take them out of state to use them. I can remember as a kid shooting off bottle rockets and firecrackers but nowadays you can purchase stuff that is almost commercial grade explosives. Then you add alcohol to the mix and you get the "Hey watch this." factor and people trying to one up their neighbors. Someone emailed me a video today of some idiot who let his "friend" put the stick of a large rocket in his butt cheeks and light it, the burns it caused were quite impressive. In fact fireworks are believed to be the cause of an apartment fire that displaced 200 people on July 6th in Toledo, OH.

Now I'm not anti-fireworks, one of the world's premier maker's of commercial fireworks is located just a few miles from here and I know the owners. But even with all of the safety precautions they have in place they have lost buildings and lives it only takes a second.

Judy,
Your problem is repeated year after year, and so is the comittment by the Boards to stop it. I would bet, with a short little agreement between the Board and proper authorities a solution could be worked out. I may take the aid of a commercial security orgainaztion and the help of local police and hefty fine to pay for protection you deserve, but is should be done. There seems to be a lack of understanding if you are living in nearly anything but a bomb shelter, these things can burn a building down and you in it. If you don't have the people on the ground with enforcing powers you should. A 15 minute wait with rockets zooming over your wooden roof can be a long time. This year was pretty good around here but there were plenty of folks keeping watch.

Judy,

Your best solution may be to have the association purchase some hoses and douse the fireworks as soon as they see them on community property. Or better yet some fire extinguishers.

Hey Linda,
Feel better? It always helps me . But by now you are probably face to face with another devil put on this earth to give you and I grief. And July not over, and you can't start counting down until 1st of August is enough to give anyone the Blahs. I just wish you could have gotten $600 fines.each instance. Hell for as hard as it is to get some of these rules passed and the time involved, not to mention grief, $600 looks cheap. I tell you the truth, if someone would offer to pay me for trying to get one of the association back on track I wouldn't even hang around long enough to answer. If all this is not a labor of love, I don't know what is. Keep up the good work, just when you think tomorrow will be better, it isn't.

Not sure what the laws are regarding fireworks in your area nor am I familiar with how far an HOA can go when it comes to fining in your area either. Check your State's HOA laws in regards to what you can fine your community members for. Otherwise, look for a possible lawsuit from whoever you try to levy a fine on.

If fireworks are against the law in your area/state, don't be the police, call the police.

Here in Florida we cannot fine community members for lighting off fireworks.

It is technically against the law for anyone to shoot off fireworks within the State of Florida, but because of a "loophole" in the fireworks law, there's a lot of fireworks going off on the 4th of July anyway. We could contact the local police, but with as many fireworks that are going off on the 4th, I am sure it's something that would be of very low priority on their call list.

What we did is contacted a professional fireworks company that did a "consumer" fireworks show for us (lower cost show). The cost was about $1,000, most of which was raised by donations within the community. We had a nice 20 minute show and, although it didn't cut down on the fireworks use completely, it did cut down on it quite a bit.

No matter what you do, there's ALWAYS going to be someone shooting off fireworks. You can fine them, have them ticketed, and sometimes even arrested (although I've never seen this happen around the 4th), and they are STILL going to shoot off fireworks next time. All you can do at that point is learn to live with it.

Judy - most of the fireworks laws that I have seen allow for shows by licensed and certified professionals such as Bryan is talking about. They would have to get a permit from the city or other regulatory authority, and typically are bonded to cover any damages.

As you are aware, it's the inexperienced incompetent individuals who create the problems with fireworks. They will scream bloody murder at the mention of restricting their "right" to shoot off explosives in the middle of drought-dry timber, and then scream again at the thought that they should be held responsible for the damage that they cause.

I'm one of those who are stuck with ridiculous laws. The state has a law against shooting off air-borne fireworks (again with the exception of licensed pros), but it is legal to buy the things if you sign a document stating that you won't shoot them off here.

I used "inexperienced" because I was going for an alliteration. There are a few other terms that I could think of, but I should keep it semi-polite on this list.

I would add at least a fourth bullet to your list of things that don't occur to them:
4) The property and/or health of somebody else may be involved.

Being from Texas, you are probably familiar with Jeff Foxworthy's Last Words of a Redneck: "Hey yall, watch this"