Pa. fireworks law proposed amendments won't fix problems, some Berks officials say

Jun. 29—"War zone" is how some local officials have described the pervasive explosions in the sky and drifting clouds of smoke throughout their communities around Independence Day since the passage of Pennsylvania's 5-year-old law that allows amateurs to buy aerial fireworks.

It may seem like an overstatement, but it's the first thing that comes to mind when they recall what they've witnessed from the ground: thunderous booms interspersed with mortar launches of Roman candles and other pyrotechnics from all corners of places like Reading and Mount Penn.

Central Berks Regional Police Chief Raymond Serafin said he decided to drive into Mount Penn after nightfall last July 4 to see for himself what all the fuss was about after fielding calls from officials and residents in the borough, where his department's station is located.

"I came up into Mount Penn," he said. "I thought it sounded like a war zone."

A bill advancing in the state Legislature is aimed at alleviating the noise and safety problems unleashed by the 2017 fireworks law, but Serafin and Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli said it would do little to fix the problems.

The Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee voted 6-5 last week to send legislation introduced by Rep. Frank Farry, a Bucks County Republican, to the full chamber for consideration.

The law already restricts where fireworks can be set off — no closer than 150 feet from an occupied building or vehicle, for instance — but those rules are widely ignored by those who can legally purchase the fireworks from under the tents of pop-up fireworks retailers.

The proposed amendments, they say, would not remove the burden on police to enforce fireworks violations, which can be overwhelming around the summer holidays, because it doesn't ban the sales of fireworks.

"The amount of complaints we get is tremendous," Serafin said. "It's so difficult to control because of the way the law is written. In order to enforce it, we have to see who is actually setting it off. We just can't go to a group of 25 people standing in a backyard and arrest them. The person responsible is the one who gets arrested."

Tornielli said he read a comment from a state representative from a rural county about a year ago that blamed the problem on police unwillingness to enforce the law.

"That can't be farther from the truth," Tornielli said. "We want to enforce it; it's just so prevalent we can't enforce it as well as we'd wish we could."

The legislation would prohibit fireworks between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. except July 2-4 and Dec. 31, when they could be set off until 1 a.m. the following day.

The legislation would add limits on where fireworks could be used around farms and other animal facilities, including fenced areas for livestock. Fireworks would be banned within 150 feet of those places, the same limit on fireworks around homes, businesses and vehicles. The current law already prohibits fireworks use around occupied buildings, on public streets and in public parks.

Municipalities could require a permit for someone to use consumer fireworks at a reasonable fee. And they could prohibit consumer fireworks if there is no way they can be used without being the required 150 feet from buildings and vehicles.

That, Tornielli said, is of no relevance to Reading, since there's probably no private property within the city where someone could be 150 feet away from a building or vehicle to legally set off fireworks, and an existing city ordinance bans the use of fireworks.

Even a fine of up to $500 doesn't prevent the night sky from being lit up like Baltimore Harbor during the battle for Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.

In late June 2021, the roof of a former textile building at 1018 Windsor St. caught fire a few feet away from a group of row homes. Reading Fire Marshal Jeremy Searfoss said it was caused by fireworks. If not for the quick action of a resident who noticed the fire and put out most of it with a fire extinguisher, it could have been catastrophic, he said.

Two years earlier, the roof of Amanda E. Stout Elementary School in southeast Reading was ignited by fireworks that were set off illegally.

The legislation passed by the House would increase the fine for consumer fireworks violations from $100 to $500. Repeat offenses within three years would be considered third-degree misdemeanors and carry a fine of up to $1,000.

The legislation also would redirect how the state spends tax income from fireworks sales. With the 2017 fireworks legislation, lawmakers levied a sales tax of 12% in addition to the standard state sales tax of 6%.

Currently, one-sixth of tax proceeds, but not more than $2 million, go to grants for emergency medical services and to recruitment and training of volunteer firefighters. The rest goes to the state's general fund.

This legislation would direct all the tax proceeds to EMS and volunteer fire companies.

State Sen. Judy Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat whose district includes Reading and Mount Penn, voted against moving the House bill out of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

"It doesn't fix the issue that our cities are facing," she said. "Particularly in Reading, local officials have made it very clear to me this is not a workable solution."

Schwank said that a day or so before his untimely death on June 13, Jeffrey S. Waltman Sr., a longtime City Councilman who most recently served as council president, emailed her about the House bill.

"He was adamantly opposed to the legislation because it doesn't resolve the problem," she said.

Waltman had been an outspoken critic of the law soon after it went into effect and he saw its impact. He asserted that lawmakers who downplay the problems would change their stance if they spent one hour in the city on Fourth of July night.

Schwank said she's not so much against people enjoying a homemade fireworks display in a rural setting such as on a farm field. The problem is, due to the widespread availability of powerful fireworks, there will be individuals who use them irresponsibly, including setting them off in urban neighborhoods, she said.

"These are really professional grade and should never has been available to consumers," she said. "That's been my position."

Tornielli said he has to triple the normal deployment of patrol officers in the more problematic areas, such as neighborhoods with tight half-streets and narrow alleys, every July Fourth night. But even then, there are more calls than police can handle.

What rankles him is that while the Reading police and fire departments incur extra manpower costs to protect property and citizens from fireworks, they would get none of the tax revenue generated by it. The shared revenue is to go to volunteer fire and EMS companies. Police departments do not qualify for the shared revenue, nor do paid fire departments.

"The only thing that really helps us is if the law is totally repealed," Tornielli said. "We're working as best as we can, but as long as you can drive across the bridge and buy fireworks, the problem is not going to go away."