FLORENCE — Although Pee Dee residents have several professional fireworks displays to choose from today to celebrate Independence Day, many — as always — will put on their own show at home.
The use of consumer fireworks can be dangerous, officials warn every year, and if not used with caution, they also can cause property damage.
The National Fire Protection Association estimates that in 2005 — the most recent year for which data is available — fireworks caused 2,500 fires and $39 million in direct property damage in the United States.
Although the use of consumer fireworks is allowed in Florence County, it’s illegal to use nearly all types of fireworks in the city of Florence.
A city ordinance doesn’t allow the firing of any pyrotechnic with at least .25 grams of explosives, Florence Police Inspector Allen Heidler said.
He said the law is necessary because of the close proximity of homes and businesses to one another.
“We respond to a lot of these incidents on the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, where people are firing them off and they’re coming over in the neighbor’s yard,” Heidler said. “If it ignites one house, because we’re so densely populated, it could affect multiple businesses (and) multiple residences.”
Firefighters with the Howe Springs Fire Department, which covers part of Florence County, said people should find a location away from structures and free of debris and keep a hose and fire extinguisher on hand to avoid causing damage with fireworks.
People also should read the labels before using fireworks, avoid parking cars within the immediate vicinity and be conscious of the state’s drought situation, said Allison Dean Love, executive director of South Carolina Insurance News Service.
“Better safe than sorry,” she said. “Do not shoot fireworks into the neighbor’s yard.”
Love said fires and other property damages caused by fireworks usually are covered under homeowner and business insurance policies.
Jim Turner, an employee at Circus Fireworks on U.S. 52, said bottle rockets and mortars pose the biggest threat to property because most travel at least 80 feet before exploding.
Turner said customers are warned to aim all fireworks away from structures and to use them in an open field.
“Just be careful and use common sense when you use fireworks,” is the best advice Turner said he can offer.
Florence City Fire Marshal Ken Carr said the city’s fire department didn’t receive any calls last year on July 4 about fireworks-related incidents.
Some probably occurred, Carr said, but went unreported because people might have hesitated to call 911 after knowingly breaking the law.
“We’re not naive enough to think that there’s one or two isolated incidents of consumer fireworks being used in the city,” he said. “You can sit outside any one of the (fire) stations and you’ll hear them all night long.”
Carr said people should call 911 to report all structural fires and any ground fires that are too big to be stomped out.
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