Council endorses changes to fireworks bylaw

By Courtney Bachar/The Oshawa Express

Oshawa’s Fireworks Bylaw is being amended to provide greater clarity concerning the sale and discharge of fireworks when a prohibition is in place.

According to a city report, the need for these changes became apparent last year when a Fireworks Discharge prohibition was declared and fireworks sale permits in temporary sale units, such as portable stands and trailers, were not being issued to prevent large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oshawa Fire Chief Derrick Clark says people continued to sell fireworks last year despite the prohibition order.

“Some retailers circumvented our bylaw and just went to a small retail location, rented the location for a week or two, sold fireworks and then packed up,” says the fire chief. He says that poses a larger problem when putting that much explosive material inside a building.

“It’s worse than a trailer,” he says. “I’m nervous about that, so we’re tightening up the bylaw.”

According to the bylaw, a chief fire official will be able to declare a Consumer Fireworks Prohibition when a situation arises that would make the discharge of fireworks unsafe. Such examples would be when there are unfavourable environmental weather conditions, and to help implement restrictions intended to protect public health, such as reducing the opportunity for the transmission of any disease.

The bylaw is further being amended to prevent the discharge of fireworks the day before and after Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Diwali.

Clark says this change to the bylaw is due to complaints his department has received in previous years of fireworks that were discharged all weekend long and sometimes well into the next week.

Regional and City Councillor Brian Nicholson says he’s very pleased by the technical amendments to the bylaw, specifically the elimination of being able to sell fireworks the day before and after the holiday.

“There are many unfortunate people in our community who are traumatized by fireworks, including seniors,” he says, noting the sounds from fireworks can also be traumatic for domestic animals.

“We all recognize the need to celebrate, we all recognize that fireworks are part of the tradition that we have in the city, but restricting it to the actual day of the event seems like a good compromise,” he adds, which he says allows those who wish to celebrate can do so without turning it into a week of celebration night after night.

While council voted unanimously in favour of supporting the amended changes to the Fireworks Bylaw 59-2014, City Councillor Rick Kerr says he’s concerned about that business owners won’t be able to sell fireworks in the city despite being able to in neighbouring municipalities.

Furthermore, he says it’s unfair for residents to have to travel outside of the city to a neighbouring municipality to purchase fireworks just to drive back into the city to set them off.

“There are such things as seasonal and part-time business enterprises, and these days with COVID, I find it a bit of a conundrum that people can let [fireworks] off here but they can’t buy them here,” he says.

“I just think we’re depriving some Oshawa business people of a chance to make some income, seeing as how it’s a legal activity.”