By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
During the three days fireworks were allowed to be sold and used in Hays, the city fire department answered 25 calls but only one of those was related to fireworks use.
“We had a minor fire July 3 in some outdoor vegetation at 5th and Elm the firefighters put out with a fire extinguisher,” Fire Chief Gary Brown reported to Hays city commissioners last week. “We didn’t respond to any 911 calls about fireworks injuries,” he added.
Brown called it “a very good record for our community” while also acknowledging the wet weather played a role.
“There was an awful lot of fireworks use around town and obviously the rain kept some of the minor fires from starting. But we do give a lot of credit to the people using the fireworks safely.”
There were 10 fireworks stands in Hays which were checked daily by the fire department.
“We provided a handout with the rules about fireworks use including cleaning up after yourself,” Brown said.
“Both the police chief and I think that the people were very careful and tried to respect each other and use the fireworks properly.”
The annual Wild West Fest was also held during the long holiday weekend, “an extremely busy time for the Hays Police Department,” said Chief Don Scheibler.
HPD received 41 fireworks complaints.
“The majority of those occurred on the Fourth of July between 11 p.m. and midnight, when people were trying to get rid of those last fireworks,” Scheibler said with a chuckle.
“Really, fireworks for the Hays Police Department have become a non-issue. The community, as Chief Brown mentioned, are very responsible, very respectful, and for the most part, very patient. They wait until the curfew hour is passed before we start getting a lot of complaints.”
Fireworks were allowed to be sold and discharged in Hays between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. July 2 through July 4.
Scheibler credited the city commission for the quiet holiday.
“I think the real important reason for that happening is because of the commission. Early in the year you decide if we’re going to have fireworks and they already know what days and what time–it’s a consistent time–so the whole public knows. I think you played an important part in helping HPD and HFD making this a safe and somewhat peaceful weekend,” Scheibler said.
“Maybe I’m getting older, but the fireworks do seem louder.”
The commissioners laughingly agreed. “It’s not your imagination,” said Mayor Eber Phelps. “I don’t recall my windows rattling like that.”
Commissioner Henry Schwaller asked the rest of the commission “do we want to take any action in the future about these really loud aerials?” The city previously had an ordinance allowing only ‘Safe and Sane’ fireworks. “It was very unenforceable and we never knew what that meant. Is there any way we could regulate aerials?,” Schwaller asked Chiefs Brown and Scheibler.
“You’ll remember we tried limiting what was allowed…and the city attorney did a very good job in crafting a very limited ordinance,” Brown answered. “And we tried policing all the fireworks stands in the city to make sure the aerials weren’t being sold. But they can just hop in their car and drive a safe distance (outside city limits) and buy those things and bring them back.”
“The challenge will be as long as the state of Kansas allows those aerials to be sold, there’s a possibility those will be in town,” Scheibler added. “It would reduce the number but we’d still have that problem.”
“I know people who every year we allow fireworks, they buy theirs online,” said Vice-Mayor Shaun Musil. “I don’t know how you guys would ever enforce that.”
“I didn’t get very many emails or complaints this year,” Musil said as he knocked on the wood commissioners’ desk.
“Somebody actually came up to my wife and said ‘the city did a good job of enforcing–people quit at 11 o’clock.’ Well, we didn’t enforce that; people did it themselves.”