Coral Springs Forum | Sun-Sentinel.com

Last year, Coral Springs city staff had fliers all over the city advising people not to use illegal fireworks during the July Fourth celebrations. Whether that deterred residents from using illegal fireworks is a matter of debate.

Carl Prescott, a Coral Springs resident who has been in the forefront of the fight against illegal fireworks in the city, is waiting to see what it will do this time. “They need to educate residents on legal and illegal fireworks. Last year, they had fliers and also messages on signboards. I hope they do something similar this year,” he said.

Prescott cannot understand why police have to first warn residents using illegal fireworks before confiscating them.

“There is nothing in the law that says you need to give a warning,” Prescott said. “I think there is a possibility of people taking advantage of that. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more illegal fireworks this year than in previous years.”

The issue came up for discussion at a recent City Commission meeting. Mayor Scott Brook, who heads the customer involved government committee studying the issue, said it was a real problem.

Brook wanted police to look into confiscation of illegal fireworks. He also appealed to the people to inform the city if they came across people setting off illegal fireworks. “Let us make our celebrations safe,” he said.

Local governments have no legal right to regulate fireworks, City Manager Mike Levinson said. “The legislature set up a task force in 2007 to study the issue," he said. "Local bodies will have to wait until the task force submits its report. We don’t allow sale of illegal fireworks in the city.”

The primary goal of the police on July Fourth would be to ensure that people use legal fireworks safely, said Police Chief Duncan Foster. “If we find people in possession of illegal fireworks, they will be confiscated," he said. "We will warn them once and confiscate the fireworks the second time. We did that last year, too.”