Keystone Fireworks, located on Carey Avenue. Owner Kevin Shaub said sales have been up this year.
                                 Patrick Kernan | Times Leader

Keystone Fireworks, located on Carey Avenue. Owner Kevin Shaub said sales have been up this year.

Patrick Kernan | Times Leader

WB mayor wants something done about fireworks; pandemic possibly behind surge in sales

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<p>Mayor George Brown is joined by Police Chief Joseph Coffay and Fire Chief Jay Delaney in asking for tighter restrictions on fireworks in Pennsylvania.</p>
                                 <p>Patrick Kernan | Times Leader</p>

Mayor George Brown is joined by Police Chief Joseph Coffay and Fire Chief Jay Delaney in asking for tighter restrictions on fireworks in Pennsylvania.

Patrick Kernan | Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE — With the Fourth of July holiday coming up, plenty of people are stocking up on fireworks, but the mayor of Wilkes-Barre is saying that enough is enough.

During a press conference on Friday, Mayor George Brown, supported by members of both city council and the chiefs of both the police and fire departments, said he was deeply upset by the sheer volume of complaints caused by illegal fireworks in the city, and he’s begging for legislators to do something about it.

“I’m very upset with the situation going on in our city,” Brown said. “We have illegal fireworks that are being set off in our city with no regard for our elderly, the people with PTSD, our children and even our pets.

“And that’s wrong,” Brown went on. “That’s just wrong.”

It’s a complaint that is being heard nationwide, with news outlets from everywhere between New York City and Los Angeles reporting on a spike in complaints about noisy and seemingly endless fireworks being set off by consumers.

But, as Brown pointed out, the situation is unique in Pennsylvanian cities, as the passage of Act 43 in recent years caused an explosion of the sort of fireworks that commonwealth residents could legally purchase.

Act 43, in addition to loosening restrictions on what fireworks were legally permissible for purchase in the Keystone State, also sent the sales tax on fireworks purchases skyrocketing, a rate of 12% compared to the state’s usual 6% sales tax.

If you ask Brown, though, the “windfall” the state receives in taxes is not worth the loss of peace for Pennsylvania residents.

“Our residents are suffering because of that windfall,” Brown said.

City ordinances in Wilkes-Barre prevent the use of fireworks within 150 feet of a building or vehicle, and also ban their use on public property. In a city as densely packed as Wilkes-Barre, according to Fire Chief Jay Delaney, that means there are virtually no places where residents could legally light off fireworks.

But, as many residents of the city are surely aware, that hasn’t stopped anyone.

According to Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Joseph Coffay during Friday’s press conference that the number of complaints about fireworks has shot up since Act 43 was passed.

“I think in one weekend last year, we had approximately 800 calls just for noise complaints in reference to fireworks,” Coffay said, adding that there were 600 calls about it this past weekend.

Coffay said that, this year, it’s been necessary to have certain officers assigned to just deal with fireworks, and it still isn’t enough to deal with all the calls.

“It takes pretty much the whole department to respond to these calls,” Coffay said. “Calls get backed up; sometimes we’re backed up 15, 20 calls, just because of noise and fireworks.”

Coffay said there are limited options for officers to even deal with the fireworks, saying citations require either an officer to directly see firework violations or testimony from a witness.

Delaney added that the increased fireworks also present a safety issue in the city.

“What makes things worse is the hot weather we’ve had, the dry weather we’ve had,” he said. “Once you take one of these fireworks and light it, it goes up, and you have absolutely no idea where it’s gonna go.”

Delaney said a fire was caused at a home on the 300 block of North Washington Street after sparks from a firework landed on a roof. Additionally, he said injuries caused by the increased usage of fireworks are almost a certainty.

“We’re gonna, without a doubt, see burn injuries; we’re going to see trauma; we’re going to see eye injuries,” he said.

Brown said he is asking Wilkes-Barre residents to contact local legislators and Governor Tom Wolf’s office, encouraging them to repeal and replace Act 43.

“Tell them we need stricter, stricter laws regarding these fireworks,” Brown said, saying he would like to increase the fine for fireworks violations from $100 to $1,000, but that his hands are tied by the way the state laws are written.

“I’m tired of hearing people — their homes are disrupted,” Brown said, saying he had a call recently from a resident with PTSD who is suffering deeply as a result of the fireworks. “He said, ‘Mayor, I’m under my couch … I heard them this morning at 5 a.m.’”

Brown said his administration had contacted legislators to let them know that he would be encouraging Wilkes-Barre residents to contact them, and added that Representative Eddie Day Pashinski said he is supportive of Brown’s efforts.

A possible explanation

Kevin Shaub, owner of Keystone Fireworks which has a location in Wilkes-Barre, said that the sharp rise in the usage of fireworks is likely at least partially attributable to the ongoing pandemic.

“We’re seeing a lot more enthusiasm for fireworks this year,” Shaub said. “I think it’s because people haven’t had anything to celebrate in quite a while.”

With many other forms of entertainment having been canceled as a result of COVID-19, Shaub said fireworks have become a replacement for many people.

“People need to have some fun; they’ve been waiting a long time to have some fun,” he said.

According to Shaub, more product has been sold this year than others, but he said it his hard to attribute it only to COVID-19. He thinks there are some other possible factors as well, including the fact that Independence Day is a Saturday this year.

“When you have a weekend holiday, you always see a significant rise in sales,” he said.

Shaub also suggested that his company’s stores have slowly started to see the sale of larger and larger fireworks.

“It’s taken a while for Pennsylvanians to get used to it,” he said, adding that repeat customers often continue to try more and more. “Each year, they’re going a little bit deeper into what they’re comfortable with.”

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan