TERRE HAUTE —
Extremely dry conditions are leading Vigo County officials to weigh possible restrictions on the use of private fireworks this Fourth of July season.
Several local governments in Indiana are issuing temporary emergency orders banning the use of fireworks because of hazardous conditions.
Vigo County is currently under a burn ban that urges people to use extreme caution when using fireworks. That ban expires Friday when a new ban is expected to be issued by the county commissioners.
Dorene Hojnicki, director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, is working with the county commissioners on the new ban, said J.D. Kesler, assistant Vigo County EMA
director.
“We still want to do, and the commissioners want to do everything they can, to make sure you don’t overly restrict something,” Kesler said Wednesday. “But the exact wording [of the new ban], when it comes out, will be a little stronger probably than the current one.”
Indiana law prohibits local governments from enacting ordinances to limit the use of consumer fireworks during evening hours between June 29 and July 9 and most of the day on July 4.
Despite that language in Indiana law, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight this week issued a ban on fireworks for the next seven days. Similar bans are currently in effect in at least 10 Indiana counties, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Lawrence McCormack, Kokomo city attorney, defended his city’s fireworks ban Wednesday in an interview with the Tribune-Star. He said Indiana law prohibits local governments from enacting “ordinances” limiting fireworks during those specified days. What Goodnight did was issue a temporary “emergency” declaration, not an ordinance, he said.
“This is a special circumstance that has pushed us to the point where we feel that, for the protection of the public, we need to enact a ban on fireworks,” McCormack said.
The EMA’s Kesler agreed Wednesday that an emergency declaration would not be an ordinance and would, therefore, fall outside of the realm of what is covered by the state law.
“An emergency declaration is not an ordinance,” Kesler said Wednesday. “So that gives you leeway during some type of a specific emergency to restrict certain actions or otherwise certain freedoms.”
Indiana Fire Marshal Jim Greeson told the Indianapolis Star that local officials in several Indiana communities issued firework bans in connection with emergency drought disaster declarations hoping those would override the state law. The matter could eventually be tested in court, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a “red flag” critical fire danger warning for all of central Indiana, including Vigo and surrounding counties. The warning was set to be in effect all day today and could be renewed by the Weather Service.
“Just look to Colorado and the west,” the EMA’s Kesler said. “Once fires start, it’s hard to stop them when conditions are this dry.”
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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