Business
Arson Kits Go On Sale Thursday
June 22, 2022 
The annual July 4th records falsification and safety advice is now available from Treasure Valley “first responders” regarding use of fire works.
Officials sternly tell residents that “aerial fireworks,” including bottle rockets, mortars, and those producing “booms and bangs” are illegal. Meanwhile hundreds of dogs jump fences and run off in terror as both police and “patriotic” citizens ignore the illegal acts.
Last year on July 4th, there were 62 calls for service into dispatch from people reporting either illegal fireworks or a hazardous situation. BPD did not issue any citations.
Each year the folks at two large fireworks vending outlets ask customers to sign documents promising not to set off fireworks on public lands or other areas where they are prohibited–like the state of Idaho.
Both the Boise Police and Ada County sheriff’s departments have issued statements saying they “prioritize calls” and don’t really enforce the use of illegal fireworks.
The aerial explosives and fire crackers are responsible to injuries, lost dogs, disastrous fires, and sleepless nights for many. Meanwhile the much tamer devices described as “safe and sane” fireworks go on sale in strip mall and supermarket parking lots. For all but 10 days of the year children are admonished to not play with matches. Ironically, the only place to play with fireworks away from restrictive adults is in vacant lots and foothills land subject to wildfire.
A wise old father once suggested simply burning cash to get the same results as shooting off retail fireworks. In Vietnam resourceful revelers celebrating the lunar new year burn U.S. $100 bills for good luck. At least they do it with photocopies instead of real Benjamins.
The answer to the issue of fireworks displays is to boycott the arson stands and attend licensed displays found throughout the state. In Boise fireworks are scheduled to begin at 10:15 p.m. (dusk), but festivities at Ann Morrison Park begin at 6 p.m.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jun 22, 2022, 8:26 pm
You must be a real hoot at the parties…
Jun 22, 2022, 9:58 pm
Hey AD, he’s only pointing out the law. Are you suggesting a party can’t be fun without stuff illegal and dangerous?
Jun 23, 2022, 4:51 pm
Just what do Police and Sheriff officers write tickets for? I notice many trailers with no tail lights, vehicles with missing head and tail lights.
Are tickets being issued for speeding? Or do we get the same old, same old message that ‘calls for service’ take priority to enforcement of the most basic parts of our lives: vehicles.
How abouit construction vehicles parked in ‘no parking’ zones? Delivery trucks parked all over downtown?
And so it goes…
Jun 23, 2022, 11:14 pm
I’ve never seen our local fire marshals so shaken as when they went before the Idaho Legislature after the scary Table Rock fire, to plead for more responsible fireworks laws in this state. (For those of you new arrivals who have yet to learn about the genuine risks of fire in the urban interface in Idaho, that’s the fire that almost burned down to the edge of Warm Springs Boulevard a few years ago.). They said it was finally time to crack down on some of the truly stupid rules under which fireworks are sold in this state … like selling powerful explosive rockets and other ordinance, as long as you sign a promise not to light them off within Idaho! Idaho legislators, never known for their responsiveness or their analytical prowess, blew it off, even after the Table Rock fire scorched the Boise foothills landscape for a year and destroyed a house, after causing the night-time evacuation of some threatened Warm Springs Mesa neighborhoods. One astute legislator from the rural nether regions of the Gem State lectured fire professionals that it would be “unpatriotic” to have beefed-up fireworks regs in this state. Another lawmaker, eager to exploit the social angle, said it would be discriminatory to put the parking lot sellers of fireworks (mainly anglos) under new rules, while unregulated fireworks could still be sold on Native American reservations, which are sovereign nations, with different rules. So, in the wake of one of Boise’s worst and most unnecessary Fourth of July fires, nothing changed. Like our state’s motto, let governmental inaction “be perpetual”.
Jun 24, 2022, 8:26 am
The Foothills cheatgrass is 18″-2 ft. tall and drying out. The annual rye is over 4 ft tall. And this Ada Commisisoner doesn’t think a fireworks ban is a good idea!
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/ada-county-commissioners-vote-2-1-to-adopt-firework-ban/277-6e799695-36a7-4e0d-84e2-27f34314254c
After all – there’s only Mule Deer and Elk winter range and thousands of homes at risk …
And it sounds like Ada County ain’t gonna be dong much enforcement anyway.
Jun 24, 2022, 8:58 am
Western., every time I sit at a big intersection going straight and the opposing left turners go through 3 or 4 at a time after my light is green I ask the same question.
Jun 24, 2022, 12:05 pm
If you would like to know how many tickets were written and what they were for, you can complete a public information request for that info. It is possible to get that information on how many were written year to year.
Jun 24, 2022, 4:56 pm
We have increased the danger to people by how the homes are built in the foothills. A clear danger taken on voluntarily, I might add. There are many weed patches near homes everywhere in the valley, too. Tough tidally winks to us.
Jun 24, 2022, 7:40 pm
It’s pretty amazing. Generally law-abiding citizens nudge-nudge, wink-wink and engage in a night of civil disobedience. And of course their kids grow up and continue the tradition. (Lots of ’em save a few bombs for New Year’s Eve, as well.)
If they stay out of the dry brush and don’t light the neighbor’s house on fire, I’m a tolerant fella and can look the other way – within reason. When the celebrating is still going full swing at midnight or 1am, it starts getting just a bit annoying.
Apparently we need to burn down a neighborhood or the foothills every few years, to get people to take it a little more seriously.
Jun 25, 2022, 9:03 am
THANK YOU, DAVID KLINGER. YOU JUST SAVED ME FROM LABORING OVER A RESPONSE: THAT LIKELY WOULD NOT BE AS GOOD AS YOURS!
I’ll only add that I live darn near on top of the Boise Police Dept. I am also a Nevada gambler, and I’ll look at all bets; there won’t be any aerials in this area.
Jun 25, 2022, 3:00 pm
Suppose WE could start selling POT in Boise, sign a waiver not to smoke it in Idaho? Makes as much sense as selling illegal fireworks.
Jun 25, 2022, 4:20 pm
Tell me, Frank. If the authorities choose not to enforce a law, is it really a law?
Jun 27, 2022, 2:21 pm
The answer is in the Legislature and the ballot booth.
As Katie Fite points out, dumb politicians are not helpful.
Remember Ryan Davidson’s position next time he is up for election- Ada Commissioner in 2 years.
“I’m generally not in favor of banning much of anything,” Davidson said.
Chaos.
Jun 29, 2022, 12:11 pm
Caeth a more concerning question is if our public servants, getting paid by us, aren’t enforcing the laws, codes, rules etc. Not Doing their job! Should we keep paying them?
Should we question the need for more law enforcement, INCREASED PROPERTY TAXES or have the ones we pay for to do their job?