JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to form a committee to establish a fireworks ordinance.

Once the ordinance is drafted, it would go to selectmen and then to town voters for final approval.

There were several complaints registered with police and town officials on fireworks, which are now legal under state law with conditions and exceptions.

Consumer fireworks may be used between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. The exception is they can be used between 9 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. on July 4 and Dec. 31, and the weekends immediately before and after those dates.

The fireworks also need to be used on the property of the person setting them off or with permission from a property owner.

Consumer fireworks do not include missile-type rockets, helicopters and aerial spinners or sky rockets and bottle rockets.

“The smartest thing we could do is form a committee,” police Chief Larry White Sr. said. He is also the public safety director.

The intent would not be to ban them but make them safer. There are people in Chisholm Village, which is densely populated, that are getting little sleep, he said.

“I think we can do something,” he said, pointing out that there is a real fire danger in Chisholm.

Livermore Falls is also considering an ordinance and it would be nice if the section on Chisholm mirrored each other since the houses are so close together, Town Manager Ruth Cushman said.

White suggested people with expertise, including firefighters, police and selectmen, be on the committee. Ordinance review committee members could  also take part along with members of the public.

Resident Linda Desjardins who lives in Chisholm, said, “It sounds like a cannon” when fireworks are being shot off. She can see them go up in the sky but didn’t know what town they were in due to the nearness in that residential area of the two towns.

“I’m really tired of being awakened by a cannon,” she said.

Resident Bill Calden asked why the state law couldn’t be enforced.

It can be and that’s what police are trying to do, White said. But sometimes 10 p.m. is too late for people who go to bed earlier than that.

“We’ll have to find a happy medium,” White said.

Resident Michael Schaedler who lives in the North Jay area said he was in bed at 8:30 p.m. and fireworks were going off.

“My main concern is I’d like to see it tied to a fire permit,” he said. “I just don’t want to wake up to an inferno.”

Open burn permits are only given at certain times and during certain days when fire danger is not high.

Schaedler said he would like to see someone check out a site where fireworks are going to be set off before a permit is issued to make sure the user is prepared to fight a potential fire.
 
“I hear the concern,” said board Vice Chairman Justin Merrill, who is also a captain on the Jay Fire Rescue Department. The ground could be dry and fire danger could be high and someone sets off a firework in the woods, he said. They won’t be chasing the fire through the woods, he said.

“I don’t mind issuing permits but I think there should be guidelines,” he said. He said he doesn’t want to get a call for a permit at 9:30 at night when the deadline is at 10 p.m. in most cases.

“From a fire department standpoint, I think the state law is too loose,” resident Max Couture, also a firefighter, said. For instance guidelines could be put on to address nearness to structures and address fire danger levels.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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