Now officials have had enough.
Why fireworks are going off so often, no one knows. And city officials say they still don’t know where the greats come from.
Conspiracies abound over who is responsible, but it is clear that relentless fireworks are an inconvenient and dangerous phenomenon in an already surreal American moment.
Fireworks problems on the northeast and west coast
There seems to be no geographic pattern behind which cities are firing more.
“This is a serious problem,” he said. “People are scared. People are losing sleep. Babies and children are waking up. Pets are terrified. Our veterans and others with PTSD are experiencing real harm, and it is a real fire hazard in our city.” .
Southern California also stays up all night.
The fireworks problem in New York is one of the worst, with residents in the five boroughs losing sleep for more than a week.
Annoying fireworks are not a completely new topic for the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference Tuesday, but there is “more [fireworks] than we have seen “in years past, and they are being lit earlier than usual.
“This is a real problem,” said de Blasio. “It is not just a quality of life and noise issue, and it certainly is that. But it can also be dangerous.”
De Blasio said New York City police, along with the New York City Sheriff’s Office and fire officials, will create an illegal fireworks task force to combat illegal fireworks sales in the city and surrounding states. Participating officers will carry out “covert operations” to locate the supply and cut it, the mayor said.
New York fireworks problem
The light show is more than a nuisance in keeping New Yorkers awake all night: explosives are also dangerous.
According to the Adams office, a Bronx teenager was hit in the chest with fireworks and hospitalized in a stable state, and a 33-year-old Brooklyn man was hospitalized in critical condition when a firework he launched ricocheted off a window and hit him. . .
“Walking around and looking at some of these fireworks, they are extremely sophisticated, beyond the normal range of what we used to do when we were kids,” Adams said. “This is definitely not just a firecracker.”
Most of the Brooklynites he meets tell him they lit fireworks to let off steam after being cooped up for most of spring: New York was for months considered the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Some said they were at their house for a few months, and this is just their way of having fun,” he said. “Often, people don’t realize the dangers associated with it.”
And, of course, there are conspiracies hinting at dire motives: unproven allegations in the fog of a night M-80.
This year I could see more ‘fireworks in the backyard’ than ever
Leaders in the fireworks industry expect the lead-up to July 4 to end the sales pause throughout the winter and early spring. But even they have never seen sales increase as early as they did this year.
And those are just the legal ones.
Backyard fireworks use is expected to hit a record high this July 4, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group for consumer and commercial fireworks retailers.
Bill Weimer is vice president and general counsel for Phantom Fireworks, which is considered the leading fireworks retailer in the United States. In his nearly 30 years in the pyrotechnics business, this is the first season he “hit” [him] above.”
“Without reviewing specific numbers, the demand and business we’ve seen so far has been the strongest early fireworks season I’ve seen in my years of involvement in the fireworks business,” he said.
Weimer said more people are buying Phantom fireworks, and they’re buying them sooner than ever. Weeks before the usual busy season from mid-June through the Fourth, Phantom locations have seen customers become repeat customers.
About 40% of them are first-time buyers, he said. And because cities are canceling fireworks shows for the Fourth, Weimer suspects that residents are taking it to light up the skies themselves.
“It is a combination of people who go out, are anxious and have this energy accumulated, and then, around the corner, there is a quintessential fireworks holiday,” he said. “Put the two together, consider the fact that there won’t be a lot of fireworks, and suddenly, you have a formula that means people are buying more and more fireworks, and they buy them sooner.”
Mayor de Blasio, meanwhile, hopes to bring the fireworks to the people. He announced that the city will host a 5-minute roving fireworks show in each of the five boroughs starting next week, culminating in the televised fireworks show on July 4 at Macy’s next month.
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