VANCOUVER – A city councillor is pushing for Vancouver to implement a ban on consumer fireworks, which are said to cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages annually.
Coun. Pete Fry has put forward a motion that would see city staff work with firefighters and police to develop a ban that could be implemented by the year 2021.
He pointed to a 2018 memo from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services that calculated the average annual damage caused by consumer fireworks at $379,000 over the last 12 years.
Setting off fireworks is a Halloween tradition among many young people in the city, but the accompanying racket can also annoy neighbours and stress out house pets. Fry's motion notes the loud blasts can have serious adverse effects on wild animals as well.
"Documented effects include nesting birds and other small mammal parents abandoning their nests leaving their defenseless babies behind," it reads.
"The panic can sometimes cause so much disorientation that wildlife parents cannot locate their nests and their babies die. Panic and disorientation from fireworks noise has also resulted in birds flying into windows and buildings, or too far out to sea to escape the noise."
Police calls for service also "dramatically increase" in the days leading up to Halloween, according to the motion.
Fry suggested the city could still make exceptions for large public events, such as the Celebration of Light, and for cultural or religious events like Diwali.
Vancouver already has fairly restrictive bylaws when it comes to consumer fireworks. Businesses are only allowed to sell them between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31, and purchasers, who must be at least 19 years old, need a permit to buy them or set them off. They can only be set off on private property.
But many other local cities have already banned fireworks outright, according to Fry's motion, including North Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Richmond, Delta, Surrey, Langley, Langley Township, Abbotsford, Mission, Victoria and Seattle.
