Earlier this year, the Jefferson City Council approved a new ordinance that allows residents to shoot fireworks.
The Council approved the new ordinance this past March, which was before the new state law was passed and is similar in nature in that fireworks are allowed to be used on July 3rd from 10am-10pm, July 4th from 10am-11pm and December 31st from 10am-12:30am on January 1st. Police Chief Mark Clouse explains that prior to this year, they would get several calls about people shooting off fireworks, and that is taxing on the officers.
“What most commonly happens is we get a call or a complaint from a citizen about fireworks being shot in this location of town. And we go out there and drive around, and around, and around, we don’t see any more fireworks, we don’t see anybody outside. Okay, well they must’ve gave up and went to bed for the night. And we get on the other side of town and get called back, ‘They’re shooting fireworks, again.’ So, it’s always challenging to the officers to handle those kind of complaints.”
Clouse states there are some things in the ordinance for people to be aware of such as not consuming alcohol when shooting off fireworks, being responsible of where a fireworks ends up at that you have to clean it up and only on your property can you shoot off fireworks, unless you have permission from the property owner if you are not on your property. He adds that there are stiff monetary penalties for not following the ordinance, which includes a $500 fine for the first offense, $750 for the second and $1,000 for the third or subsequent offenses. Click the link below to see the new fireworks ordinance.