Fireworks Banned in Unincorporated Areas of the County

With surprisingly little opposition from the nonprofit groups that would be directly affected, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to bar so-called “safe-and-sane” fireworks throughout the county’s unincorporated territory.

But the supervisors also ordered county officials to return with a draft law to regulate public displays of fireworks on July 4 and will let nonprofit groups recover some of their lost funds by selling food, drinks and merchandise at the display sites.

“It comes down to two main issues, and that is public safety versus profit,” said Orange County Fire Chief Larry Holms, a strong supporter of the ban on “safe and sane” fireworks, which are not shot into the air and do not explode.

Holms argued that the danger to people and property from fireworks set off in an area of “dry brush, combustible roofs and hot, dry weather” made the ban a necessity.

Holms said that even before Wednesday’s 5-0 vote to ban them, all fireworks were illegal in large portions of unincorporated county territory because of the high risk of fires.

Preliminary Approval

In addition, 13 of the county’s 26 cities ban all fireworks. Fountain Valley also has given preliminary approval to a ban.

Several people who testified at a two-hour public hearing before the vote told the supervisors that their groups would suffer financially because of the ban. Some also argued that a ban could spur the use of the more dangerous variety, such as rockets, cherry bombs and other explosive fireworks that already were illegal in the state.

But in all but one case mentioned, the fireworks sales occur in local cities, where supervisors have no jurisdiction. The remaining group, a nonprofit martial arts organization known as the National University and College Karate League, operates only one of the 32 stands in his district, 3rd District Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said. And that organization is based in Hawthorne, in Los Angeles County.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton said numerous stands throughout Orange County were operated by groups based outside the county that were unable to sell fireworks on home turf because of laws banning all fireworks.

Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties have banned all fireworks, Holms said.

Pam Zanelli, representing the California Pyrotechnics Assn., which includes manufacturers and distributors of “safe and sane” fireworks, argued against the ban.

“The evidence does not support a ban on ‘safe and sane’ fireworks,” Zanelli contended, saying that 92% of the county’s fires caused by fireworks are touched off by the illegal kind. Zanelli challenged statistics used by the Orange County Grand Jury in a June report urging supervisors and city councils to hold public hearings on proposed bans and then put the issue to the voters.

But Zanelli’s use of statistics was challenged by supervisors as well, as were arguments by other representatives of the pyrotechnics industry.

Zanelli said after the vote that her group estimated that $3.5 million worth of “safe and sane” fireworks were sold in Orange County this year.

The YMCA of Laguna Niguel made $12,000 last Fourth of July by selling fireworks, according to its executive director, Vince Corsaro, who did not appear at Wednesday’s board meeting to oppose the ban.

‘Loss of Needed Revenue’

‘We’ve been doing this for years, and (the ban) will mean the loss of needed revenue,” Corsaro said. “I can understand the concern people have about fireworks, but I hope that this decision will not increase the use of illegal fireworks.”

Corsaro said he did not attend the board meeting to fight for legalized fireworks sales because the $180,000 raised annually by the Laguna Niguel YMCA comes from both fireworks supporters and opponents. “We don’t speak out in favor or against political action,” he said.

Corsaro said he “would take a look at” the board’s proposal that fireworks stands be turned into hot dog and beverage stands. “We’d have to sell a lot of hot dogs,” he added, explaining that fireworks have a much higher profit margin.

Kate Keena, executive director of the Saddleback Valley YMCA in El Toro, said her group raised $10,000 during the last Fourth of July holiday selling fireworks at three stands in unincorporated Mission Viejo, El Toro and Laguna Hills. That is one-fifth the total of $50,000 raised annually by her organization, she said.

By contrast, Keena said the organization’s food and beverage stand that the Saddleback Valley YMCA manned during Mission Viejo’s Fourth of July street fair proved disappointing.

‘You Can Raise a Lot of Money’

“I don’t have the exact figures with me right now, but we raised substantially less than what we did at the fireworks stands,” Keene said. “Fireworks are such a great thing to sell because in three days of concentrated efforts from volunteers you can raise a lot of money with no overhead and little preparation.”

Cal State Long Beach student Mike Woolbright, whose fraternity has raised money by selling fireworks, testified Wednesday that the groups that sell the fireworks keep 30% to 50% of the retail sales price.

CITY FIREWORKSOrange County’s 26 cities are evenly divided on the legality of so-called safe-and-sane fireworks, with 13 allowing and 13 prohibiting them.

Legal: Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Orange, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster.

Illegal: Anaheim, Brea, Laguna Beach, La Habra, Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Placentia, Huntington Beach.

Source: Orange County Fire Department