Snohomish County has a split personality over fireworks

Here are things people used to do without a second thought:

Drive around in cars that didn’t have seat belts.

Ride motorcycles and bikes without wearing helmets.

Send an athlete back into the game after a bad blow to the head.

Set off fireworks in the yard.

Now, we see much of that behavior as dangerous, illegal or both. I have enough of a libertarian streak that I’m open to good arguments for erring on the side of personal liberty. Yet in today’s world, the safety of others outweighs freedom at all cost — and it should.

Most of us see the need for seat belts, helmets, and concussion policies — and laws to enforce them. Whether or not personal fireworks should be allowed is far from a settled question.

When it comes to pyrotechnics, Snohomish County has a split personality. Some places opt for a bang-up Fourth of July all over town, while others shun even so-called safe-and-sane fireworks.

Marysville is joining the list of communities saying no to possession, sale or use of fireworks. The Marysville City Council passed the fireworks ban Tuesday.

When the ordinance takes effect in January 2017, Marysville will join Edmonds, Everett, Gold Bar, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo and Woodway in banning fireworks. Marysville’s decision followed a public advisory vote in November asking whether the council should enact a ban. It passed 59.25 percent to 40.75 percent.

Allowing personal fireworks are Arlington, Bothell, Brier, Darrington, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Stanwood, Sultan and unincorporated Snohomish County. Many of those places limit use to July 4, and hours are restricted. Like Marysville, Brier held an advisory vote on a ban, which voters passed in November. The Brier council could vote this year to join the prohibition.

Obviously, Marysville has a geographic issue most cities don’t. Nearby is Boom City, an annual marketplace for fireworks on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. The reservation is subject to Tulalip and federal fireworks laws, allowing stand owners to sell fireworks prohibited by Washington laws.

Tribal vendors are allowed to sell firecrackers, chasers, bottle rockets and other missiles and rockets. Those are outlawed by the state. Large firecrackers, such as M-80s or M-100s, and homemade or altered devices are illegal under federal law. They can’t legally be sold anywhere.

Fireworks legal under state law include fountains, sparklers, Roman candles, wheels and ground spinners.

Boom City, which had 139 stands in 2015, sets up each June in a lot behind the Tulalip Resort Casino. An area is provided for buyers to use fireworks not allowed off the reservation, according to a June 2015 article posted on TulalipNews.com.

Even if customers followed the law, blasts from Boom City would still make part of the summer noisy in neighboring Marysville. The city’s safety will depend on enforcement. That’s true in every city with a ban. Despite Everett’s ban, I still hear and see personal fireworks every July 4 and New Year’s Eve.

All fireworks users would do well to remember that lighting a fuse for gone-in-a-flash thrills can cause real harm.

In 2007, Marysville’s Carolyn Barkley had gone to bed early July 4. Her son was getting married the next day. When fireworks set her garage on fire, all she could to was grab her dog and get out. The fire destroyed her garage and car, and damaged her house.

“It was traumatic,” said Barkley, who is all for Marysville’s ban. “And I live it every Fourth of July, every time the Seahawks win, and every New Year’s Eve.”

A cursory look through Herald archives found story after story of injury and damage from fireworks. In 2003, a teen walked into the Lake Serene Fire Station with a bottle rocket lodged under the skin of his arm. In 2006, a family of four escaped a Bothell blaze caused by fireworks.

And in 2010, a boy in the Silver Firs area was burned after bottle rockets ignited in his pants.

I wasn’t thrilled when Everett imposed its ban in 1997. I have fun memories of home fireworks displays, both from childhood and when my older kids were small. Every year, the Fourth gets a little quieter around my house.

These days, I don’t have to spend the holiday at home, armed with a garden hose. I’m happy, and my dog is happier.

Still, I like a showy, thunderous, professional fireworks display. Everett’s Fourth of July fireworks show, best seen from Legion Park, draws a huge crowd. Arlington, Darrington, Edmonds and Monroe also have public displays on the Fourth.

Here’s a thought for Maryville: When you take away personal use of fireworks, step up your game for the Fourth of July. A fireworks display is part of Marysville’s Strawberry Festival every June.

Come 2017, it may be time for Marysville to move its fireworks show to the Fourth.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.