SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns celebrated their newfound freedom and liberation from an aerial fireworks ban with gusto — lighting up the night sky on the Fourth of July well after it turned to morning — and doing it loudly.
"The thing that's interesting is that with these new fireworks, people were like a kid in a candy shop," said State Fire Marshal Brent Halladay. "There were fireworks going off everywhere."
The test, fire officials say, will be in the weeks to come as Utah continues to dry out.
"There's a new play in town. We just finished Act 1, the time from now until July 20 is Act 2 and Act 3 is July 24th," Halladay said. "It's all new and there's a tremendous amount of burnable fuels."
Utah joins other states across the country that have either modified fireworks restrictions or bans previously in place, figuring it's better to capture lost revenue rather than try to enforce the unenforceable.
"You can only make people obey the law when the majority of people wish to obey the law," Halladay said.
"You cannot go write everybody in town a ticket. … It is like Prohibition."
A new law that took effect this year extends Utah's fireworks season from June 26 to July 26, lifting prohibitions on aerial or "cake" fireworks that shoot as high as 150 feet in the air. Cherry bombs, firecrackers, Roman candles and single and reloadable mortars remain illegal.
Halladay said the interest in the newly legal fireworks has been intense.
"If we cannot as human beings put it up in the air, we somehow feel cheated," Halladay said. "We like to have those aerial displays — it fills that void in Utah we have missed for so long."
While exact sales totals of the new fireworks are unavailable, one executive estimated a 20 percent increase in the volume this summer in Utah.
"When you have something new and all the attention surrounding it, people want to use … (and) try it out," Joey Witter, regional manager for Phantom Fireworks, said Tuesday. "It is an evolution … when you're used to ground-based fireworks and can legally do aerial — a lot to people really want to try them."
Witter said in the short term, sales are trending up because of the novelty, but he expects consumers to change their buying habits in the long run as people get accustomed to their availability. But the aerial fireworks will continue to be popular, he said, because consumers are getting a better, more fun product.
Phantom operates between 30 and 50 outlets throughout Utah for the 30-day sales and discharge period, he said. Other manufacturers, including TNT Fireworks and Black Cat Fireworks, also operate numerous locations statewide.
Multiple brush fires and trash fires and a couple of structure fires have been reported in the past several days, but Halladay knows of only three confirmed incidents stemming directly from the new aerial fireworks available legally.
"Statistically, from the thousands of these that were shot off, we did fairly well," he said.
Provo fire officials say a townhouse caught fire over the weekend, sustaining about $10,000 in damage. A couch caught on fire because of firecracker.
A West Jordan teen was injured when fireworks exploded near his face.
Officials say they are unaware at this point if the injury or the townhouse fire were caused by the new brand of fireworks available.
In the Daybreak community of South Jordan, a garage was set on fire by fireworks Saturday night. Firefighters said something went "awry" as the homeowner was putting on a show and fireworks were ignited inside the garage. Fire officials were unsure Tuesday whether illegal fireworks or the new cake fireworks were involved.
"If people will use common sense and be reasonable in what they do, mindful of the precautions, you can have a good time," Halladay said. "If not, these things will bite you. They will turn around and bite you."
While fires and fireworks-related injuries were relatively few and far between over the weekend, most agencies reported a noticeable uptick in noise complaints caused by revelers who didn't want the Independence Day celebrations to end.
West Jordan Battalion Chief Reed Scharman said the time frame for discharging fireworks may have been extended to a 30-day window from June 26 to July 26 — but noise ordinances remain in effect.
"Because the public was given more days on which they can launch, they have seemingly forgotten what time they can launch."
The Salt Lake Valley Health Department has standard noise regulations in effect from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., although that window is extended at night by 30 minutes on the official day of the holiday.
But like a child giddy over a new toy, revelers were lighting fireworks way into the wee hours of the morning, with several police agencies logging multiple complaints.
"I was out at midnight," said Salt Lake Fire Capt. Mark Bednarik," and there were still fireworks going off. These new fireworks have brought a new level of intrigue."
Mindful of the potential for brush fires that will be stoked by extremely high vegetation nursed along this spring, many fire departments imposed restrictions on the benches or areas were accessibility is a challenge.
Scharman said each year people complain and each year they learn to live with it.
Fireworks in those restricted zones are a priority enforcement issue for Salt Lake officials, Bednarik added, and people generally do a pretty good job of policing themselves.
The same holds true in Provo, where the city fire marshal, Lynn Schofield, said noise complaints became the issue of the day, not restrictions violations.
Fire officials hope people can keep their common sense hats on even while setting fireworks off — doing their part to help keep fire dangers to a minimum.
"The Red Butte fire displayed for the public how dry conditions really are," Bednarik said. "It's only going to get worse."
Contributing: Jasen Lee
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