Colorado lowers the boom on fireworks
By Michael Kelly 
| July 2, 2009 | 3:38 PM
Live in Colorado and like fireworks? You're better off driving north to Wyoming. Photo by istockphoto.com
It’s the Fourth of July and you want to blow something up.
Just over the Wyoming border, you see a place to get fireworks, so you walk in and buy firecrackers, and maybe some bottle rockets and Roman candles, then head home to Denver.
Good luck finding a place to set off your ‘works.
Try it in Aurora and you could get hit with a ticket and a heavy fine. Same with Denver — and anywhere else in the metro area.
“In pretty much all the cities here in the Denver area, fireworks are illegal,” said Tim Stover, deputy fire marshal for the city of Littleton. “In Littleton there are no personal fireworks allowed, just professional pyrotechnic shows.”
State law bans fireworks that explode or leave the ground. So sparklers, fountains, ground spinners and novelties such as party poppers are OK; firecrackers, bottle rockets and mortars are not. The reason for the ban? To prevent fires, injuries and property damage.
Of course, local authorities are free to set tougher restrictions, and most have. In Denver, there is no wiggle room, not even for sparklers.
“None. Nothing,” Det. Sharon Avendaňo said when asked what fireworks can be lit in the city limits. “If you get caught, you get a ticket and the court determines the punishment.”
In Denver, like most metro-area cities, that could mean a fine of nearly $1,000 and 180 days in jail.
Instead, officials are encouraging people to attend the professional shows. And there are the typical places to go to see great fireworks — Lookout Mountain and Green Mountain offer a view of all of the metro-area shows.
But some people just like to blow up things on their own.
Pam Baker, who works at a tent that sells fireworks in Jefferson County to raise money for the Landmark Tabernacle Student Ministry, said she has people coming in looking for the “good stuff” all the time.
“Yeah, and we tell them they don’t sell them in Colorado,” she said. “They’ll ask, ‘Do they sell them in Cheyenne?’ And we tell them yes.”
Yes, just up Interstate 25 is Wyoming, where less-restrictive rules and a veritable smorgasbord of Fourth of July fun tempt Colorado residents into breaking the law.
“Anything in 1.4G Class C fireworks are allowed,” said Dave Thompson, Laramie County (Wyo.) fire warden.
That’s legal-speak for firecrackers, bottle rockets and Roman candles — none of which is allowed in the Denver area. Cherry bombs and M-80s are prohibited, but everything else is for sale in Wyoming.
So don’t be surprised if you see Colorado residents flocking north for the holiday. It’s not for Wyoming Cowboys football.
“Between the border and Cheyenne, that’s where all the best stuff is sold,” said Ryan Thorburn, a Wyoming native.
Laying down the law
It’s not your imagination. Colorado has tougher fireworks laws than many of the surrounding states. Here’s what the American Pyrotechnics Association lists for state laws. Individual cities and counties may enforce stricter rules.
*Colorado: Allows cylindrical and cone fountains, ground spinners, torch and colored fire, dipped stick and sparklers, snakes and glow worms, trick noisemakers and certain other novelties. In other words, nothing that leaves the ground or explodes.
*Wyoming: Allows all consumer fireworks meeting the requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). “Consumer fireworks” do not include cherry bombs, M-80s or anything with more than 50 mg of explosive material (about half the size of an aspirin tablet).
*Kansas: Allows all pyrotechnic devices classified as consumer fireworks by the U.S. Department of Transportation, except for rockets mounted on a wire or stick.
*New Mexico: Allows all items that comply with the requirements of the CPSC, except stick-type rockets having a tube less than 1/4-inch inside diameter. Municipalities may prohibit the use of aerial and ground audible devices.
*Utah: Allows cylindrical and cone fountains (effects no higher than 15’,) wheels with no more than six drivers,
ground spinners, flitter sparklers, smoke devices, wire sparklers under 12 inches in length, party poppers, trick noisemakers, ground chasers that do not travel more than 10 feet laterally, snakes, and glow worms.
*Nebraska To be legal, fireworks must be on a list that is approved by the state fire marshall and updated annually. This year, the list includes firecrackers, fountains, novelty items, Roman candles, daytime parachutes, spinners and wheels, silver and gold wire sparklers, and wood- or bamboo-handled sparklers of any color.
fireworks, fourth of july, law
