Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The state's laws regarding fireworks are as clear as a giant sparkler lit on a moonless night. Total pyrotechnic composition (flash powders) may not exceed 100 grams per item. Devices containing chlorate or perchlorate salts may not exceed five grams in total composition per item.
Legal fireworks include dipped sticks or wire sparklers, cylindrical fountains, cone fountains, illuminating torches, wheels, ground spinners, flitter sparklers, snakes or glow worms, smoke devices, trick noisemakers such as party poppers, booby traps, snappers, trick matches, cigarette loads and auto burglar alarms.
Regular fireworks purchasers are familiar with so-called out-of-state fireworks. They're loaded with more than 100 grams of flash powder or other material and include bottle rockets, firecrackers, Roman candles and cherry bombs. The buyer signs a form promising not to set off out-of-state fireworks in Indiana, although they may have been purchased here. If the signer does set them off, they have committed a Class A misdemeanor.
Warsaw Fire Marshal Mike Wilson said two fires were started because of out-of-state fireworks within the last 10 years. A business storage area caught on fire when a bottle rocket went astray. A man was killed in a Fox Farm Road house when an undetected bottle rocket went through a window, landed in a couch and caught the couch and the house on fire.
The Warsaw Fire Department has approved four locations for retail fireworks sales: TNT, Winona Fireworks, Celebrations and Big Boom.
"Last year I asked Kosciusko Community Hospital to notify me of any fireworks-related injuries," Wilson said. "There was one, an adult, and he was treated and released.
"If you want out-of-state fireworks, buy them, sign the form and take them to Pierceton, where you can fire them at the authorized location."
The Indiana Fireworks Users Association and the Pierceton Volunteer Fire Department host the safe site in the Pierceton-Washington Community Park July 3 and 4 from 9 to 11 p.m.
"Safety is the No. 1 thing," Wilson said.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Council on Fireworks Safety offered these safety tips:
• Always read and follow label directions.
• Have an adult present.
• Buy from reliable sellers.
• Use fireworks outdoors only.
• Always have water handy, like a garden hose and a bucket.
• Never experiment or make your own fireworks.
• Light only one firework at a time.
• Never re-light a "dud." Wait 15 to 20 minutes and then soak it in a bucket of water.
• Never give fireworks to small children.
• If necessary, store fireworks in a cool, dry place.
• Dispose of fireworks properly by soaking them in water and then disposing of them in your trash can.
• Never throw or point fireworks at other people.
• Never carry fireworks in your pocket.
• Never shoot fireworks in metal or glass containers.
• The shooter should always wear eye protection and never have any part of their body over the fireworks.
