Bay City residents peeved by loud backyard fireworks

Tag : small fuse

Bay County Central Dispatch Director Leonard Norman said there were35 noise complaints regarding backyard fireworks over the past fourdays. Central Dispatch tries to put officers on the scene, butoften they're too busy, he said.
"The night of the big fireworks (Thursday-Saturday) they're goingto be very busy, especially," he said. "But when they're in thearea, we do try to get someone out there."
Norman added the same complaints come in every year at this time.
And Bay City isn't the only hot spot for backyard pyrotechnics.
The use of backyard fireworks has more than doubled since 2000,according to the American Pyrotechnics Association.
Last year, Americans used 280 million pounds of display andbackyard fireworks, nearly 10 times the amount used in 1976, theyear that Julie Heckman, executive director of the pyrotechnicindustry group, said "put the firework industry on the map" withAmerica's bicentennial celebrations.
That has caused concern among some public safety groups that therise in both popularity and firepower could prove a combustiblemix.
The National Fire Protection Association advocates a total ban onconsumer fireworks, more for safety reasons than noise complaints.More fires typically are reported in the U.S. on Independence Daythan on any other day of the year, said spokeswoman LorraineCarlie.
"We feel fireworks are too risky a product for the general publicto use," she said.
"There's a big problem with fires starting when they hit buildingsor dry, grassy areas."
In Michigan, explosives that leave the ground or are extremely loudare illegal to sell.
Bonnie Burzynski, who lives on Chandler Avenue in Bay City, saidshe wouldn't mind hearing the explosions at dusk. But at 3 or 4a.m., it's too much.
"It gets annoying with the big boomers," she said. "All the dogs inthe neighborhood start barking, and we've got a lot of dogs aroundhere."
And if it was a one-day event, she could tolerate it. But thatnever seems to be the case.
"It seems like it's two weeks before, at least two weeks after,"she said. "But I don't know, it's the Fourth of July. What can youreally do?"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.