Fireworks ban pitched in Airway Heights

AIRWAY HEIGHTS — Public events may be canceled for now, but that did not stop the Airway Heights City Council from thinking about the future in its study session Monday night. Code Enforcement Officer Kristina Blake joined the virtual meeting to present her proposal to ban fireworks in the city.

Blake gave the council a 185-page packet containing info, stats and arguments in support of her proposal. Her presentation itself was short and focused on safety.

“I haven’t been able find anything statistically, or any studies, that support that personal fireworks are safe,” Blake said. “It’s common sense.”

Blake went on to argue that personal fireworks violated noise, animal cruelty and nuisance ordinances in the city. She then used a gender-based argument to support her case.

“Fireworks teach young males that it is OK to blow things up,” Blake said. “We can’t tell our kids that it’s not OK to play with explosives one day, and then on July 4 tell them that it’s OK.”

The packet Blake provided has information regarding which local and county governments in the state allow fireworks. Spokane County bans them, however, cities and towns in the county can exempt themselves from the ban and issue their own rules.

Airway Heights and Medical Lake are the only local governments in the county that allow personal fireworks.

Blake said that because fireworks likely will not happen this year anyway because of COVID-19, now would be the perfect time to ban them, starting in 2021.

“If we put a ban in place right now, it would likely take a year to take effect and lead to a quieter ban in 2021,” Blake said.

Some members of the council took issue with this argument.

“I would rather put it to the vote of the people,” Councilman Larry Bowman said. “I want to see what people think … I don’t think it’s fair to push something like this forward just because we have this opportunity.”

Mayor Kevin Richey suggested the issue be brought up later when in-person meetings can be held so that there can be public comment.

“There is going to be a lot of community comment on it,” Richey said.

Councilman Sonny Weathers agreed.

“I think it’s important that we’re safe, but I think it’s important that we get public input on this,” Weathers said.

Deputy Mayor Doyle Inman suggested getting away from personal fireworks and moving to a community event instead.

“If we can do something like that during Airway Heights Days, we should be able to do something on the Fourth of July,” Inman said.

Bowman also presented some argument in support of allowing personal fireworks.

“I think fireworks is something that draws people to our community,” Bowman said. “If we abide by the standards that we put in place of only allowing community members to set off fireworks we can crack down on outsiders coming in and setting them off … I’ve talked to a lot of people who don’t want to get rid of them because they like that they can go out in their own neighborhood and set them off for their children and have a show.”

No action was taken Monday and the council is expected to discuss the issue further in the future.

Jeremy Burnham can be contacted at jeremy@cheneyfreepress.com.