PARIS — Acting Maine Fire Marshal Joseph Thomas answered questions about fireworks use Tuesday evening and heard complaints on legal and illegal fireworks activities.

Thomas heard about horses stampeding and people concerned about fires. For most complaints, he had two suggestions — contact legislators to change the law or, in the case of property damage, file civil lawsuits.

He said 37 cities and towns in Maine have regulated fireworks in some way. Saco was the most recent to ban use and sales completely. Other towns like Scarborough have more complicated laws, barring fireworks use in some areas. “The local government and its people can get pretty creative,” he said.

He said people opposed to fireworks legalization can push for local ordinances or contact their legislators. People have called his office saying they’re planning a citizen’s initiative to repeal the law legalizing fireworks use.

Thomas explained his office’s role in enforcing laws. For the most part, the Fire Marshal’s Office deals with regulating stores. Certain types of fireworks are banned, such as helicopter-propelled and any other device that is propelled into the air before exploding.

People younger than 21 years can’t possess, buy or use fireworks at all. “Our greatest concern is injuries to children,” he said. He said hospitals in Maine have reported 18 injuries this year. More people may have gone to local clinics, he said.

Simply possessing fireworks can’t be regulated, as the state has legalized owning them. Another problem is that while towns can pass local ordinances, policing bodies like the Sheriff’s Office and the State Police can’t enforce them, and the District Attorney’s Office can’t prosecute them.

Sheriff Wayne Gallant said towns would have to appoint municipal prosecutors to take those cases to court.

Thomas said the Fire Marshal’s Office has made several recommendations for fireworks legalization, including that their use be banned on days with high forest fire danger.

Some residents complained that fireworks were under regulated. Sheriff Wayne Gallant pointed out that a person playing loud music can be cited at any time of day for disorderly conduct for disrupting neighbors, but fireworks noise is unregulated between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day.

Many spoke in support of fireworks. Paris Selectman Gerald Kilgore said there would always be “a few bad apples” no matter how stringent fireworks laws become. He compared abusing fireworks to jacking deer, an illegal hunting tactic using a spotlight to stun deer before shooting them.

Two people complained of incidents when fireworks were thrown from cars and exploded on the street, which is illegal. Thomas said many of the complaints, like the injuries, could be chalked up to “people’s own stupidity, which cannot be legislated.”

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