Fireworks Complaints Fizzle Out

By Patrick Mcardle
THE RUTLAND HERALD
Complaints about setting off fireworks have been down this year compared with the past five years, and law-enforcement officers in Rutland County have some theories. No one is really sure what’s causing the change.

For Rutland City, the police department recorded 35 complaints in 2021, 75 in 2020, 66 in 2019, 47 in 2018 and 67 in 2017. Halfway through 2022, there have been three complaints.

Looking at the complaints from January through June, in 2021, the city had 18 complaints, in 2020, there were 38, in 2019, there were 14, in 2018, there were nine and in 2017, there were 23, compared with the three this year.

Records from the Vermont State Police show a similar pattern with 137 complaints in 2017, 107 in 2018, 97 in 2019, 149 in 2020 and 144 last year. This year, there have been 23 complaints and 10 of them were in June.

Chief Brian Kilcullen, of the Rutland City Police Department, said he thinks there may have been less access to fireworks this year than there had been before.

“My sense is that if there were fireworks being displayed in backyards we would be getting calls from neighbors. Personally, I haven’t heard as many this year as I’ve heard in previous years, in my neighborhood,” he said.

Kilcullen joked that the change was good because it meant “the dogs are happy.”

Lt. Doug Norton, commander of the Rutland Barracks of the Vermont State Police, said he thought there could be a number of reasons the calls are down, including the economy. Therefore, the ability for Vermonters to buy fireworks, and the restrictions from the pandemic, which may have reduced the ability for some to travel.

“I know that fireworks are more accessible now than they have been, but years past, of course, you had to travel out of state to get them,” he said.

On their website, the Vermont Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Safety notes that all fireworks are illegal in Vermont, except for small items like sparklers, unless the buyer has a permit for a supervised public fireworks displays.

“Fireworks are dangerous and unpredictable, especially in the hands of amateurs. All too often, fireworks result in serious burns, hearing loss and other injuries due to misuse,” the site says.

The permit, for which an application must be reviewed and approved about two weeks before the use of fireworks, is granted by the local chief of police and fire departments. The use, possession, sale and distribution of fireworks is legal only after the permit is granted.

Castleton Police Chief Peter Mantello said he didn’t have statistics at hand Friday to determine whether the calls were up or down in his town but noted that this is the time of year when more fireworks complaints are common. He said he didn’t believe there had been many calls about the issue this year.

Mantello said he expected fireworks use might be up this year but didn’t really have an answer as to why the complaints seem to have dropped. He said his department was still responding to other calls on a regular basis.

In Brandon, David Kachajian, chief of the town’s police department, said the reduction in calls locally seems to have outdone even Rutland and the Vermont State Police: He said he didn’t think there had been any fireworks complaints in Brandon this year.

“I work basically Monday through Friday and I always check the logs. I don’t even remember seeing a fireworks call, which is extremely unusual. Usually, building up to the Fourth of July you have some every now and then, or once in a while you get a call at night for someone lighting them off. I haven’t seen any,” he said.

Kachajian said he was not complaining about the change under which the calls have “basically disappeared.”

“They tend to be time consuming. We go out there, and a lot of times, (the people who set them off) are gone when we arrive,” he said.

Kachajian noted that some fireworks are produced internationally and wondered if the reason they’re not being used more often is if they’re being held back by the same supply chain issues as other products.

Chip Greeno, who owns fireworks stores in Fair Haven and Pittsford, C&C Fireworks, said his first reaction was that there were fewer complaints because the people who wanted this fireworks store to leave Rutland Town “felt like they won” and were making fewer complaints.

“I’m out of town. They accomplished what they wanted to get accomplished, but my sales are not reflecting that there’s been a decline in fireworks sales,” he said.

Greeno said he thinks some of the spike in fireworks use and complaints from the past few years may have had to do with the reduction in recreation options during the pandemic.

“There were a lot more average citizens during the pandemic buying (fireworks.) ‘My grandkids are going to see fireworks,’ you know what I mean, whereas now they can go back to seeing the town show,” he said.

Chief Whit Montgomery, of the Killington Police Department, said he didn’t think it was a reduction in availability of fireworks, but simply fewer people setting them off. Like Brandon, Killington has had “very few if any complaints over the past year,” Montgomery said.

According to Montgomery, Killington can see different use than other nearby towns because many people come to the town on vacation from other states that may have different laws about fireworks so some tourists may bring in fireworks from out-of-state. He said he usually sees some spike around the Fourth of July holiday or New Year’s Eve.

The Killington police follow state statutes in enforcement, which could mean that a person identified as using fireworks without a permit could be cited for a misdemeanor and face up to 30 days in jail or a fine of $100.

Kilcullen said when police do get a fireworks complaint, they respond to the area to see whether they can find the person responsible for setting it off. If they do, a citation may be issued. However, he added, being able to identify the responsible person is “the exception rather than the rule.”

Norton said fireworks complaints are something the police look at as quality-of-life-issues.

“We try to address them as best we can. If you’re next door and someone is lighting fireworks off at 2 a.m., well, certainly, we want to address that. Sometimes staffing prohibits an immediate response if other things of a more serious nature are going on but we absolutely will address those as well,” he said.

patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com