Fireworks back on Richland code enforcement board’s agenda

A proposed ban on personal fireworks in Richland is back on the agenda after a month-long delay for snow.

The city’s Code Enforcement Board will discuss the matter when it meets at 6 p.m. Feb. 14 at Richland City Hall, 505 Swift Blvd. The board will consider formally asking Richland to join its neighbors in banning fireworks in the name of protecting lives and property.

The board intended to discuss it last month but it’s January meeting was canceled because of snow.

“As Richland is in a desert environment, the risk of fires is of the utmost concern,” it says in a draft of the letter it is considering sending to the city council.

The city council, which did not ask the commission to study fireworks, has the final say on city policy.

Fireworks are illegal in all of Franklin County, including Pasco, and in Kennewick, West Richland and Prosser.

Richland allows ground fireworks but its rules against aerial fireworks are routinely ignored on the Fourth of July and at other revelatory occasions such as New Year’s Eve.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Fireworks back on Richland code enforcement board’s agenda."