Discussion of fireworks bans in Nebraska’s drought-stricken areas sparking safety, legal concerns

Citing extremely dry areas and an already devastating wildfire year, Scotts Bluff County commissioners are preparing to approve a resolution that would ban the discharge of Fourth of July holiday fireworks in unincorporated areas.

The commissioners on Monday night approved the drafting of a resolution in a 4-1 vote, although one commissioner who gave a vote of support said he meant to vote against it, but he incorrectly entered his vote in a digital tallying system. The vote followed a lengthy conversation between the commissioners, the county attorney, the county emergency manager, a rural fire department chief and a local fireworks retailer that spanned nearly an hour and a half.

Several commissioners said they have been approached by other counties looking to impose similar rural restrictions, but they don’t want to draw ire from community members or even state leaders. Some Scotts Bluff County leaders said the stakes are dire.

Parts of Nebraska’s Panhandle are still recovering from a mammoth wildfire that ignited in Morrill County in mid-March. The Morrill Fire kicked off after power lines blew into a field, sparking a blaze that ran across 642,000 acres. It quickly became the largest wildfire in the state’s history.

Even before the wildfire, Scotts Bluff County, and much of the Nebraska Panhandle, was experiencing very dry conditions. Now, the county is facing “exceptional” drought, according to the latest drought update from the National Drought Mitigation Center. Much of western Nebraska just experienced the warmest and driest winter on record, which could set up the state for one of the worst droughts in history.

Everyone at the Scotts Bluff County Board meeting recognized “things are really dry.” But most of the discussion surrounded the legality of implementing a fireworks ban in rural areas. Commissioners made it clear that the county ban would not impact the discharge of fireworks in city areas, including in Scottsbluff and Gering. The ban would only affect people in unincorporated, or rural, areas.

Commissioner Ken Meyer, who previously served as a Scottsbluff firefighter for 40 years and a fire marshal, said he had discussion with State Fire Marshal Doug Hohbein, who told him that he’s recently fielded a lot of calls about drought-stricken counties considering firework discharge bans.

“He’s approached the governor multiple times,” Meyer said. “The governor doesn’t want to take a stand on it at all. He doesn’t want to do anything with it, and he had mentioned probably half a dozen other officials or representatives from different counties calling and asking about it.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said Pillen had not spoken to Hohbein about possible firework bans, and Pillen has not issued any moratorium on fireworks.

The commissioner said the fire marshal’s office told him that a fireworks ban could only be implemented by the governor, city council or county board. Jason Ossian, the attorney for the board, said in counties that have zoning regulations, which Scotts Bluff County has, Nebraska law states the county board of commissioners can adopt a resolution that’s necessary to “promote the public health, safety and welfare of the county.”

A similar debate played out Monday at the Gering Public Safety Committee meeting. After hearing talk about increased fire danger from the drought, the group decided 3-1 to propose to limit the window in which fireworks can be discharged to seven days. The Gering City Council will consider the measure at an upcoming meeting.

Leaders with both boards said they’re concerned that the stark drought conditions have set a stage for fires to quickly ignite and take off.

Meyer said fire crews have worked demanding schedules this spring to put out wildfires that quickly accelerated from the Panhandle’s very dry conditions. He said some people might not think it’s a big deal to keep sending crews out to take care of fires that have been incessantly igniting.

“It is a big deal,” Meyer said. “And it’s going to hit us, and I don’t think people realize what the impact is going to be. We don’t need to add to that by starting a fire on our end of the state. Why would we even think about doing that? We’re in a severe drought situation. All it would take is one pop bottle rocket, and the next thing you know, we’ve got a mess on our hands.”

The two commissioners who were against the proposed resolution, including Board Chairman Mark Harris, said they understood the greater risk this year, but there have been concerns about fireworks starting wildfires in previous years. They said they didn’t want to impede the rights of people who want to safely light off fireworks to celebrate the special 250th anniversary of the U.S. becoming a country.

“I’m generally in favor of fireworks, but I recognize we’re in a difficult situation, and so do all the other politicians, I’ll just say,” Harris said. “And that’s why the governor’s not talking about it, and that’s why many other people are not talking about it and not making decisions about it. Because they know it’s a difficult subject. I’m certainly not in favor of regulating everything, and so that’s kind of where I’m at, at this point.”

County commissioners repeatedly mentioned long lists of social media comments and questions that argued a fireworks ban that would impede on peoples’ rights to light off fireworks. But some commissioners said they’re hearing from some people in rural areas who are “begging” them to institute a rural fireworks ban.

Gering Fire Chief Nathan Flowers warned the area is facing “unprecedented times” and a “pretty significant drought.” He said implementing a ban would greatly reduce the risk of something igniting in a rural area.

“My major concern is [that] we’re seeing dry lightning in April and May,” Flowers said. “We haven’t seen dry lightning until August, September. We’re having all the fire departments come out. If we’re dealing with fireworks elsewhere as another potential ignition source, you’re going to get a delayed response.”

Flowers, who’s been with the Gering Fire Department for 25 years, said crews have been so busy recently, they haven’t been able to be dispatched to help nearby departments with fires, and in one recent case, that left a wildfire to grow before more help could come.

“A firework is an ignition source,” Flowers said. “Just remember that. This is the first year that I’ve been really, really concerned about fireworks.”

But Greg Trautman, a local fireworks retailer in Gering, said limiting the discharge of fireworks could negatively affect his business. He said fireworks are rarely causes for fires in rural parts of the county, so there wasn’t much history to show a rural fireworks ban would make a difference.

“My industry is being lumped in with every other cause of fire, and I don’t think that’s a fair classification. I really don’t,” Trautman said. “We’ve already brought in all of our inventory, and the way our industry works, we can’t send them back. We pay for that inventory, whether we sell it or not.”

The Scotts Bluff county commissioners are expected to vote on the rural fireworks ban at their next meeting.