By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Playing with fire

Council debates fireworks and merits of a ban on sparklers

Apr 1, 2019 | 8:17 PM

A debate was lit at Monday’s city council meeting surrounding the sale and possession of sparklers.

It became a focal point as council was in the middle of passing first reading of a new Fireworks Bylaw.

As of April 1, Alberta has chosen to be regulated by the National Fire Code, as opposed to its own provincial code which has been in place since 1984.

However, the National Fire Code does not contain policy around fireworks, meaning municipalities are free to craft their own.

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Sparklers were singled out by Councillor Ken Johnston who lamented the fact that the proposed bylaw would effectively ban people from using the seemingly innocent items, even on birthday cakes.

But as Red Deer Emergency Services Chief Ken McMullen pointed out, sparklers have been illegal for years.

“It’s one of those things that as our inspectors are out there and come across these sparklers, we do talk to the business and ask them to be removed, and they’ve been very compliant so far,” he says.

As for how they even get into stores, McMullen says that’s a question for the higher-ups, but sometimes things slip through the cracks.

“With sparklers, it really is one of those heat and burn injuries that we come across,” McMullen adds. “It’s one of those things the general public doesn’t see the risk in, however the heat is just absolutely damaging to your skin if you come in contact with it.”

Despite the reasoning given for their prohibition, Johnston moved to delete sparklers from the proposed bylaw. That was approved ahead of second reading, which will happen in the next month.

Adding fuel to the fire, Mayor Tara Veer supported the amendment, stating she’d rather avoid a subject like sparklers becoming too big of a focus over the coming weeks.

Until council gets to final readings of the bylaw, the old rules apply. Once passed, those wishing to use fireworks — and possibly sparklers — would require a permit.

Council has also asked for more information to be brought to them with respect to the possibility of only allowing people over the age of 18 to purchase sparklers.

According to statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission cited in the city council agenda, there were an estimated 12,900 fireworks injuries treated in US hospitals in 2017.

An estimated 1200 of those ER room visits were related to sparklers.