With new law, neighborhood fireworks displays lead to disputes, police calls in Pa. suburbs

The new state code has added fuel to a longtime debate between people who love setting off their own fireworks and folks who can’t stand it.

An Upland fireworks vendor in 2018.Read moreJose F. Moreno / File Photograph

by Erin McCarthy

Published July 3, 2019, 5:00 a.m. ET

As professionals put on fireworks displays this Fourth of July, some homeowners across the suburbs will be enjoying a show from the comfort of a lawn chair in their driveway or backyard.

If that show is happening within 150 feet of a home, it’s illegal, even under the 2017 Pennsylvania law that legalized the sale of explosive fireworks.

But many fireworks-lovers don’t know the intricacies of the law — or don’t care, sometimes upsetting their neighbors.

The new state code has intensified a longtime debate between people who love setting off their own fireworks and those who can’t stand it. On both sides, folks have strongly held beliefs. Some residents declined to comment for this article, saying they feared how their neighbors might react.

Proponents of consumer fireworks say mortars and bottle rockets are a show of patriotism that’s integral to the holiday. Opponents cite concerns about safety and the well-being of neighbors with autism and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as parents of small children and pet owners.

“The noises are frightening, horribly frightening, for certain people,” said Ann Fray Shiffer, 68, of Havertown. “Those who set off the fireworks don’t worry about other people.”

The retired insurance agent said she’d talked with combat veterans and parents of babies who are just as peeved.

In her home, her dog Louie, a Lhasa apso, used to hide under the bed or a table, shaking incessantly, every time fireworks went off, she said. For the past year, Shiffer said, she’s given him veterinarian-approved tranquilizers a couple of hours before scheduled fireworks shows. But in recent years, she said, neighbors have set fireworks off without warning.

She’s called the police, she said, but hasn’t seen anything done.

Haverford Township police have seen an uptick in calls related to fireworks since the law took effect, said Lt. Michael Glenn.

Every time someone calls 911, officers respond, he said. By the time they arrive in a neighborhood, the person who was setting off fireworks usually can’t be found.

If a person is caught with legal fireworks, Glenn said, officers typically explain the change in the law, stress how residents still can’t set off fireworks in most suburban neighborhoods, and issue a warning.

“I don’t think residents were totally aware of what the change was,” Glenn said.

Regardless of how people plan to celebrate Independence Day, he said, he urges them to keep their neighbors in mind.

“You forget about things that may not affect you — PTSD, dogs, animals," he said. “Just be considerate of each other.”

Thirty miles away, in Levittown, Chris Lucas has mixed feelings about the fireworks debates that have overtaken his Facebook feed in recent years, especially around the Fourth of July.

It seems like around every major holiday, he said, the same people voice their disapproval of consumer fireworks.

“I can agree on some of the concerns, but it celebrates freedom," he said. “It’s part of the country’s history.”

The 37-year-old glazier said holiday fireworks displays were exciting when he was growing up. Part of the draw, he said, was that “you never knew where they were coming from.”

He’s in favor of the new law, he said, noting the permitted fireworks are much more exciting than sparklers.

Joshua Siegel, 38, of Elkins Park, said he appreciates the beauty of the displays, but he’s fed up with how often people set them off on their properties. Over the years, it’s become much more than a way to celebrate Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve.

It’s become a running joke among his friends — “Almost anything seems to be a cause to use fireworks," he said.

After moving from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Montgomery County last year, Siegel said, he immediately noticed the frequent loud noises. He usually can’t even see the fireworks, he said, but he can hear them.

As he watched the Game of Thrones finale in May, he said, he was distracted by the loud bangs and bright lights of a huge fireworks display somewhere nearby.

“It looked like an alien invasion or something,” he said with a laugh.

Siegel said he has never called the police about fireworks, because he figures they have more serious matters to handle. And the fireworks law, he said, is “pretty much unenforceable.”

After being back in his hometown for a year, he said, he feels better prepared for this summer and the onslaught of do-it-yourself fireworks.

“It doesn’t make it any less irritating," he said. "Now, it just feels like a fact of life.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t realize it’s actually still illegal, at least in the suburbs, 99 percent of the time."