Leave Fireworks to the Pros

It’s not clear what possessed then-Assemblyman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar), the Legislature and then-Gov. Pete Wilson back in 1998. Perhaps the monsoon-like El Nino rains that year led them to believe that Southern California would never again be a toast-dry, semiarid region. That was when Miller pushed through a one-time law allowing cities and counties to authorize fireworks sales from Dec. 26, 1999, through Jan. 1, 2000, to mark the turn of the century.

Didn’t anyone talk to a Southern California firefighter? Almost any firefighter’s advice would have been to ban fireworks at this time of year, when Santa Ana winds typically are gusting through the canyons. This year, lack of rain makes it even worse.

Those were the conditions that had more than 1,300 firefighters on the lines Wednesday struggling to contain wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. At this time, there is no evidence that fireworks were the culprit; the point is that the region is a tinderbox. Fireworks sales are the last thing public safety officials need over the Y2K weekend.

Don’t take our word for it. Just listen: “It’s really a bad combination,” Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Daryl Arbuthnott told Times reporters. Joanne Evans, spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department, said: “We’re drier now than we were on the Fourth of July. Everyone has to remain extremely fire-safe.”

Some 100 cities statewide and several in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties will allow fireworks sales over the turn-of-the-century holiday. Yes, it may be a moment that comes once in a lifetime. Yes, fireworks sales raise money for charities. But allowing the general sale of fireworks is reckless, for even tame devices can cause fiery catastrophes.

Plenty of New Year’s events will have sanctioned fireworks displays in controlled settings and professional hands. That’s the way to go. Want to do a firefighter a favor? Leave the fireworks to the pros and have a safe and fire-free holiday.