Illegal firework activity

On Tuesday, Local News 8 caught up with the Idaho Falls Fire Department to get a summary of any damage caused by fireworks over the holiday weekend.

All went well in Idaho Falls and in the surrounding areas, but it was a different story in other parts of the gem state.

“Last night, our Fourth of July activities in and around Idaho Falls was relatively quite, which was very good for us. We only had about three calls for fires – one grass fire over in the county. We had several medical calls, but that’s pretty typical for us on a night like that,” said Idaho Falls Fire Department Chief, Dave Hanneman.

In the Boise Foothills a couple of days ago, fireworks are to blame for extensive damage: 2,500 acres were burned and a home was destroyed.

This incident is making law enforcement and lawmakers think about tightening fireworks laws. The Fire Chief’s Association is working toward a state initiative, and Chief Hanneman is 100 percent behind the conversation toward creating new legislation.

“If you looked around our city and our county, you would have seen a lot of illegal fireworks going up. And because of that – the way the law is – there’s not really much enforcement. It is illegal to shoot those off in the city limits and in the county; however, enforcement is very difficult for us to do that. So working on laws to make that stricter is safer for everybody,” said Hanneman.

The state initiative is in the early stages. The Fire Chief’s Association is in planning for exactly what will be put into next year’s legislation.