With the year 2024 ending, many individuals around the world are celebrating the start of a new year. In the city of Kenai, fireworks will be permitted for a 48-hour period, which begins on Dec. 31 and ends on Jan. 1.
Any person over the age of eighteen may use fireworks within city limits. However, fireworks must be bought within the state and from a licensed fireworks stand.
Jeremy Hamilton, the Fire Marshall for the Kenai Fire Department, says that there are some safety concerns to be aware of when planning to use fireworks.
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which does a lot of data gathering on fireworks, according to them, burns account for about 44% of all injuries. 36% of all injuries are from children under the age of 15 and 25% of emergency room injuries are from handheld sparklers. And that’s all-age groups,” Hamilton says.
It’s also extremely important to be aware of your surroundings while using fireworks. While they may only be used on personal property, some parameters need to be addressed as well.
“Don’t discharge fireworks near homes, wooded areas or near combustible materials, anything that might you know, go off or catch on fire if the fireworks were to kind of go somewhere else where you weren’t anticipating and catch something else on fire. Don’t discharge fireworks that will travel to somebody else’s property kind of going back to that if you damage somebody else’s property you could be held liable. And the same kind of parameters of you know, just because there is some responsibility on yourself if you do launch a firework and damage somebody else’s property. I know I see fireworks outside of the city and they’re not legal fireworks, even within the city. They do think about the larger fireworks that you see launched off and they kind of have the bigger displays. Those are more dangerous. Obviously, they have more explosive potential. The larger the fireworks and they don’t go off as intended and they land on somebody else’s property, you could damage somebody else’s property, you could potentially hurt somebody, and just like I said, going back to that common sense, use a lot of common sense,” says Hamilton.
Hamilton understands that fireworks are exciting and fun to watch, but they do come with a lot of responsibilities. So, he asks everyone in Kenai who plans to use fireworks to practice extreme caution and be aware of their surroundings.
“Be a good neighbor,” he says. “Fireworks affect a lot of animals; they’re scared of them. Just kind of keep that in mind. Just try to be a good neighbor when it comes to fireworks.”
