The adage “What goes up must come down” certainly can yield some undesirable consequences. With this in mind, I wish folks would consider the consequences of their few minutes of fun when they decide to buy and shoot illegal fireworks in their neighborhoods.

Yes, fireworks are loud. Yes, fireworks are beautiful. Yes, fireworks are even fun, but those burning pieces of matter fall back to the earth onto roofs, dried vegetation, automobiles and onto other combustibles and can hurt or even kill people — your family members or your neighbors. The exploding ordinances are, after all, called fireworks.

I have long been a proponent of properly licensed, inspected and approved public fireworks displays. These events, though they still incur some levels of danger, are vetted by the safety rules and laws of a particular state and those hired to enforce the laws.

This brings some assurances that burning pieces of debris will cause no harm to onlookers or to property. These events usually involve trained professionals shooting fireworks with a priority of crowd safety. Private shows bring none of these assurances.

I am sad today, sad for a long-time friend who now has to say goodbye to her parents, likely victims of someone’s moments of “fun” in our community. Having lived in this same community near this couple for many years, and having been acquainted through church with them, I grieve the senseless loss of life caused by someone else breaking the law with illegal fireworks.

I have spent more than 20 years teaching fire safety to our community’s children, yet at homes across our neighborhoods, parents entrust 1,200 degree Fireworks into the hands of their children on various holidays, often unsupervised.

My hope is that we can rethink some of these decisions with the safety of our families and neighbors first and foremost in our minds. Please do this. Let’s not have another injury or another senseless loss of life in Rome Township.

 

Michael Boster

Proctorville