Westminster’s City Council Votes to Prohibit Fireworks

The Westminster City Council voted Tuesday night to prohibit the public sale and use of fireworks within the city despite opposition from nonprofit organizations that sell fireworks to raise money.

The 3-2 vote makes Westminster the county’s 22nd city to bar fireworks, which are also illegal in unincorporated county territory. The vote was on the measure’s first reading; it must be passed again on its second reading to be enacted.

The proposal brought scores of protesters before the City Council to complain that the measure would undercut fund-raising for church youth groups, baseball leagues and similar nonprofit organizations.

Such groups in the city, which sell Fourth of July fireworks from temporary stands, together would lose up to $100,000 in revenue, one spokesman said.

“We don’t have the funds available any other way,” said Joseph Daniel, a minister at Trinity Baptist Church. “We don’t sell to children and emphasize to parents that they should supervise (children), so we think it’s safe.”

“This is ridiculous,” said John Coughlin, president of the Westminster Little League, which raises $6,000 to $8,000 a year from fireworks sales. “If this is approved, it would be legal to burn the American flag, but illegal to burn sparklers.”

Voting for the ban were Mayor Charles V. Smith and Councilmembers Anita Huseth and Lyn Gillespie. Gillespie had led the move to bar fireworks.

“I think the evidence is overwhelming,” Smith said. “This is a safety issue.”

Councilmember Joy L. Neugebauer and Mayor pro Tem Frank Fry Jr. cast the dissenting votes.

“We don’t have a law banning children from swimming pools because several drown each year or charcoal because people can make gunpowder from it,” Fry said. “Aren’t we going to allow people to take a chance?”

Fire Chief D’Wayne Scott’s Aug. 15 report to the City Council urged a ban, citing increased fires and injuries from Fourth of July fireworks. There have been about 30 fireworks-related injuries in the county requiring treatment in 1989, according to the report. Three of those came in Westminster, the most for any county community.

The department also found that the number of fireworks-related injuries and fires were far lower in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, where sales are prohibited.