Portsmouth Fire Department and City Officials Issue Fireworks Reminder

(PORTSMOUTH, VA – July 3, 2019) – Happy 4th of July. To ensure the safety of citizens, the Portsmouth Fire Rescue and Emergency Services wants to remind residents that it is illegal for any person, firm, or corporation to use, ignite or explode any fireworks within the city limits. According to a report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, fireworks were involved in an estimated 9,100 injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during calendar year 2018. The estimated rate of emergency department-treated injuries is 2.8 per 100,000 individuals in the United States. Additionally, the report notes than an estimated 5,600 fireworks-related injuries (or 62 percent of the total estimated fireworks-related injuries in 2018) were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during the one-month special study period between June 22, 2018 and July 22, 2018.

The Code of Virginia, section 27-97 states:

The Fire Prevention Code shall prohibit any person, firm, or corporation from transporting, manufacturing, storing, selling, offering for sale, exposing for sale, or buying, using, igniting, or exploding any fireworks except for those persons, firms, or corporations that manufacture, store, market and distribute fireworks for the sole purpose of fireworks displays permitted by an enforcement agency or by any locality.

Section 27-100: It shall be unlawful for any owner or any other person, firm, or corporation, on or after the effective date of any Code provisions, to violate any provisions of the Fire Prevention Code. Any such violation shall be deemed a Class 1 misdemeanor, and any owner, or any other person, firm, or corporation convicted of such violation shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of § 18.2-11.

Let the professionals handle the fireworks. Keep you and your family safe. Children 10 to 14 years of age had the highest estimated rate of emergency department-treated, fireworks-related injuries (5.2 injuries per 100,000 people). Older teens, 15 to 19 years of age, had the second highest estimated rate (3.1 injuries per 100,000 people). Join us for the annual Stars and Stripes Forever Concert tomorrow, July 4, at 7:30 p.m. at High Street Landing. The Tidewater Concert Band performs and fireworks begin right after at 9:30 p.m.