Red Deer Fire Chief Ken McMullen showed council first-hand some of the fireworks he wanted banned in the city. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

fireworks BAN-anza

Fireworks banned once again after council chooses safety

Jul 8, 2019 | 9:10 PM

A full ban on fireworks will soon be back in effect for the city of Red Deer.

Earlier this spring, the province of Alberta announced it would be regulated by the National Fire Code, as opposed its own which it had been going by since the 80s. This left municipalities with the task of passing their own bylaws in order to keep the use of fireworks in check.

Red Deer city council failed to pass a bylaw, splitting the vote 4-4, thereby making the sale, purchase and use of fireworks legal, which they’ll remain only for a matter of weeks.

On Monday, council was presented with three options, including the one they passed by a 5-3 vote, which will essentially ban fireworks entirely, likely with the lone exception of sparklers. Once the new bylaw is brought to council in the coming weeks, they will have some wiggle room if they’d like to exempt other specific types.

The options rejected by council on Monday were to have no local bylaw and default to the Federal Explosives Act, or to allow limited sales of fireworks in Red Deer a week before Canada Day or New Year’s Day.

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Red Deer Emergency Services Chief Ken McMullen was much happier with council’s decision on Monday.

“I’ve mentioned from the get-go that safety is the number one concern, and albeit there were some very good questions asked as to could we allow some things to occur that would still remain safe, and I would say yes,” says McMullen.

“But I also heard in there that there wasn’t anything broken in the previous 35 years (the rules were in place), so to try and make everything a debate, at the end of the day, I think we landed at the best spot.”

Councillor Dianne Wyntjes says she understands the safety argument, but calls the decision “no fun.”

“Too often governments are criticized for overregulating and we had an opportunity. I think we missed an opportunity to show we are a growing city and we’re playing like the big guys,” she said. “I know people are not going to stop buying fireworks. They’re going to and all I ask is that they do it in a safe manner.”

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Wyntjes said she preferred one of the other options which would ban fireworks except for a week leading up to Canada Day and New Year’s, though she would’ve limited it to just our nation’s birthday.

Fireworks are banned in Calgary; that city had its own bylaw before the province switched to the National Fire Code. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo recently passed a ban which includes sparklers, and Vancouver allows fireworks, but only on Halloween.

Meantime, John Adria, the owner of Uncle John’s Fireworks in Edmonton, has attended each of the meetings this year where Red Deer city council has had pyro on the agenda.

He admits that perhaps he’s a no fun guy too because he agrees that fireworks which shoot close to 200 feet in the sky shouldn’t be used in peoples’ backyards. He does, however, support the use of fountains, which only shoot up a few metres.

“We have hundreds of customers from the city of Red Deer who purchase fireworks from our stores and use them safely in the country on private rural land, and that will continue,” he says.

“And it’s one thing for The City of Red Deer to ban fireworks, but for the County to ban them is quite a different thing.”

Chief McMullen noted that Red Deer County, Sylvan Lake and Edmonton are among a number of municipalities paying close attention to the direction Red Deer goes.

As for how the ban will affect Uncle John’s?

“Will it hurt our business? No,” he said. “In fact, Red Deer banning the sale of fireworks means people will continue to come to us. It’s crazy, but it’s true.”