Sparks may fly as Bend City Council takes public comment on permanent fireworks ban

"This is just something that we think is best and safest for our city."

(Update: Adding video, comment from city councilor, fireworks supplier)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- After record heat and extreme fire danger this summer, the Bend City Council is poised to permanently ban fireworks.

“This is something the people want in Bend, by an overwhelming margin," City Councilor Megan Perkins told NewsChannel 21 on Monday,

The council enacted an emergency ban on the use of fireworks last summer, and Perkins said many people called and wrote to them, asking to make it permanent.

“This is just something that we think is best and safest for our city,” she said.

The city’s ordinance is set for a first reading on Wednesday and eliminates an exception in the municipal code exempting legal fireworks from noise limits. In the case of the annual display at Pilot Butte, that’s still on, because certain public displays remain exempt.

Fireworks were already on sale when the ban started, but that may be the last time they’re ever sold legally in the city. The new order will ban both the sale and use.

But fireworks supplier TNT Fireworks’ Jason Trout said that could lead to new problems.

“What will end up happening is it will force the retailers to move directly outside the city limits,” he said.

He added that it could also cause more danger for consumers.

“Force them outside the city limits to desert, remote areas, forest, much higher danger within those areas rather than within the cities,” Trout said.

Bend enacted a temporary ban on fireworks last summer, followed soon after by Redmond and Deschutes County. It could be the first to issue a permanent ban of late (though Sisters has banned them for decades and Sunriver also has a ban).

“I think we’re hoping that by leading again with this permanent ban that hopefully our surrounding areas in Central Oregon will follow suit,” Perkins said.

But Trout still isn’t sure why it’s necessary.

“We (legal fireworks) have never caused a fire in the city of Bend, so it’s interesting that the city is choosing to ban something that hasn’t been an issue in the past,” he said.

A Bend Fire and Rescue spokesperson said the only fires caused by legal fireworks in recent years were due to improper disposal.

Redmond Mayor George Endicott told NewsChannel 21 Redmond has no plans at this time to impose a similar permanent fireworks ban.