Houston Fire Department issues temporary fireworks ban

HOUSTON -— The Houston Fire Department posted a ban on specific fireworks beginning 5 p.m., on June 26 until further notice.

With increased temperatures and large wildfires already blazing on the Kenai Peninsula and in the Interior, Houston Fire Chief Christian Hartley and Gorilla Fireworks Owner Robert Hall are getting out in front of the potential problem. Hartley’s fireworks’ suspension from HFD includes Roman candles, parachutes, helicopters, and saturn battery style fireworks.

“Combined, these types of fireworks account for a great majority of significant fires caused by improper use of fireworks,” Hartley wrote.

Fireworks are only legal inside Houston city limits within the Valley, save for New Year’s Eve. Hartley said that the ban on aerial fireworks has occurred in the past, including last year and during the 2014 Sockeye Fire. Houston city code allows Hartley to issue suspensions based on communications with state officials in the Division of Forestry and the Fire Marshall and current weather conditions and forecasts.

“Anything that the user cannot control the distance or direction of is part of the suspension,” Hartley said.

Robert Hall has owned Gorilla Fireworks for over three decades since 1987 in the same gravel pit in Houston. Hall began selling fireworks with his wife three years prior, and served as a firefighter for 25 years before that. Hall understands the fire danger of aerial fireworks and doesn’t sell dangerous products during extreme fire danger occurrences.

“We’re a town where the fire chief doesn’t want fires and we don’t want fires,” Hall said.

Hall said that there are 19 separate categories of fireworks, and that Gorilla Fireworks will not sell aerial fireworks during high fire danger warnings. However, Hall still sells sparklers and less dangerous, more controllable products. Hall feels that the better job Gorilla does regulating themselves, the less likely they will have any interaction with the state fire marshal.

“It is the right thing to do and it’s also the right business thing to do,” Hall said.

While Hall expects to see a slight dip in sales due to the suspension, it is nothing out of the ordinary for Gorilla Fireworks. Hall is used to working with the weather, and often sells more fireworks during the New Year’s Eve season than he does in the summer anyway. Hall does not see the need for a total ban on fireworks, and said that like alcohol, fireworks are not toys and need to be used responsibly.

“When the fire danger is higher, they automatically don’t buy this, this is just for the idiots,” Hall said.

Hall has become certified to produce professional fireworks shows and loves to see new effects and patterns make their way into his shows. Hall thinks that Independence Day is the coolest holiday because of a letter John Adams wrote in 1776.

“It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more,” Adams wrote of Independence Day.

Hall enjoys the joy he can bring to the faces of fireworks enthusiasts, but remains on the safe side.

“You can really make people happy,” Hall said.