It is absurd that our Pennsylvania fireworks law (Act 43 of 2017) is deficient in not setting fireworks-launch distance restrictions from other property owners’ boundaries, or from streets and roads. This law is thus omitting consideration for the value of property owners’ landscaping (trees, shrubs, etc.), for the value of vehicles parked in their driveways and for the hazard this poses to motorists.
The current law only restricts fireworks within 150 feet of an occupied structure. As a consequence, again this year, another’s fireworks shell casings and debris were strewn all over my car, all over and 100 feet deep into my property and near and next to my house, posing a real fire risk in drought conditions. That’s in addition to littering my property; littering is a chargeable offense in Pennsylvania.
So what did I learn? Don’t do as I did. Don’t waste your time calling the state police. People often do less than the least they could do; the state police easily, too, prove this finding to be true.
So what can you do? At least, do the least you can do.
1. Send photos and videos of fireworks littered onto your property to Pennsylvania state representatives and senators and demand that the current fireworks law be “fixed” to set fireworks-launch distance restrictions based on the ceiling height of the largest shell casing to be launched.
A 3-inch shell (the largest allowed for consumers) will travel approximately 210 feet. These 3s landed far into my property. See keystonefireworks.com for more info.
No shell launched should be able to reach another’s property or a street or a road — even if the launcher falls over - period.
2. If others litter your property with their fireworks debris, pick it up and, while avoiding trespass, return it to their property so they can “enjoy” picking it up as much you did.
3. Contact a lawyer.
To all those readers unopposed to launching fireworks in drought conditions, or to littering a neighbor’s property with shell casings and debris, do write a rebuttal. Indeed, do write, so that other readers may learn your names, your anti-social, sociopathic tendencies and your obvious intellectual deficiencies.
Lastly, this caution to motorists: on July 4 next year, and maybe year after year, maybe don’t have your windows down at or near prominent, high-traffic intersections in Wetmore Township — or wherever you live.
Tony Stovic, Kane
