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Twin Lakes trustees have banned sparklers sales in the village.
The board, at its regular monthly meeting Monday night, considered a stronger ordinance that also banned toy snakes, fountains and cones, but reconsidered after discussion.
A stronger fireworks ordinance has been a cause of Trustee Thomas Connolly, a fire safety inspector, who has made the case repeatedly that even seemingly innocuous fireworks like sparklers are potentially dangerous.
“They’re very dangerous for young children,” Connolly said.
When support for the stronger ordinance seemed to be breaking down Monday, Connolly said his main objection was to the village allowing the sale of sparklers. The other banned items were then put back into the ordinance as allowed and the law passed unanimously.
“My thing is not to provide the sale of them …” Connolly said. “… Let them go over to Genoa City and buy them, I don’t want to be part and parcel of them buying them.”
The village ordinance now effectively shadows state law except that it also bans the sale of sparklers.
Describing the hazards of sparklers, Wikipedia says:
Sparklers are responsible for the vast majority of legal firework-related injuries, but mainly as a result of parents giving sparklers to young children. The devices burn at a high temperature (as hot as 1,800 to 3,000° F, or 1,000 to 1,600° C), depending on the fuel and oxidizer used. This can cause devastating burns to hands and faces or ignite clothing. The government recommends adults to ensure children are wearing non-flammable clothing or materials which cannot catch fire easily. Sparklers, as with all fireworks, present a fire hazard.”
