Take politics out of fire safety and limit Pierce County fireworks use to just one day
Pierce County leaders need to wise up and remove politics from fire-prevention policy, before memories of this summer’s record heat wave fade and this year’s devastating Western wildfires are finally brought under control.
In particular, they must strike while the iron is hot — and before climate change makes conditions even hotter — to fix the county’s inadequate fireworks rules.
Several local cities and nearby counties have recently taken steps to curtail or ban personal fireworks use. It’s past time for Pierce County to do the same.
None of us should tolerate a repeat of the County Council’s careless inaction in late June, when South Sounders sweltered through unprecedented triple-digit temperatures and the region was dry as tinder.
In a party-line vote, the council failed to pass an emergency fireworks ban similar to what Thurston County passed. The council’s three Republicans blocked it, even though a countywide burn ban was in effect and despite the pleas of the county fire marshal and local fire district chiefs to prohibit fuse lighting until further notice.
Fortunately, one of those Republicans is now helping lead an overhaul of fireworks regulations. An ordinance set for a final consideration Sept. 21 would empower the fire marshal to issue temporary orders banning the discharge of consumer fireworks without a vote of the council.
“A lot of times it gets politicized beyond what it should be,” Council member Dave Morell, R-South Hill, told us Monday. He drafted a compromise plan with Democrats Jani Hitchen, Ryan Mello and Derek Young.
The most noticeable change under their proposal would limit personal fireworks ignition in unincorporated areas to July 4 each year; currently, they can be discharged the first four days of July.
That’s consistent with what other local communities have done. Lakewood and Gig Harbor adopted ordinances restricting legal use of fireworks to July 4 starting next year.
The county’s changes wouldn’t go into effect until the Independence Day holiday of 2023, since state law requires a one-year notice. They also wouldn’t apply to sovereign tribal lands.
And council members aim to give something in exchange for what they’re taking away: a little New Year’s Eve sis boom bah. Fireworks would be legal between 6 p.m. Dec. 31 through 1 a.m. Jan. 1.
The updated ordinance would provide welcome relief, not just for fire prevention but for military veterans, young children, pets, service animals and livestock who are most sensitive to the explosive din.
But let’s not kid ourselves: Without a strong commitment to education and enforcement, any new time and date limits will mean little. Just ask fireworks-weary residents of Tacoma, where personal use has been banned since 1992.
Pierce County’s proposal also would not affect the legal sale of fireworks from June 28 through July 4 — a concession to nonprofits that collect revenue at the county’s roughly 40 permitted fireworks stands, but an incongruous timeline that practically invites people to break the law.
Even so, the bipartisan plan represents a good step forward. Authorizing the fire marshal to declare a temporary fireworks ban at times of extraordinary fire risk is a matter of common sense.
Skeptics might think: I’ve never heard of Warner Webb, Pierce County’s fire marshal for the last decade, and I don’t trust unelected officials to make such decisions. But the ordinance would require the fire marshal to consult with the elected county executive.
“I’m not going to be the fire marshal who calls this thing on my own,” Webb told us Monday, explaining that he’d involve the executive and local fire chiefs while relying on the best available fire and weather science.
The proposal also prescribes measuring the moisture content of the air, vegetation and other fuels —the leading indicator of fire danger — at six locations around the county.
“You don’t just have the fire marshal lick his finger and put it up in the air and say, ‘OK, we need a ban,’ Morell said.
Signs look positive that the County Council will approve these changes. We only wish they’d done it sooner, not left things to chance if another period of extreme heat and drought hits us in the next year.
Managing fire risks shouldn’t be driven by the unstable winds and hot air of partisan politics.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com