Commissioners Court Members Say New Burn Ban Means No Shooting Off Fireworks

An emergency burn-ban put in place by Fort Bend County officials on Tuesday probably means residents won’t be able to legally discharge fireworks this year – but not all county officials agree on the authority of the ban.

Fort Bend County Fire Marshal Vance Cooper sought the burn ban via an emergency measure added to the county Commissioners Court agenda at the last minute before Tuesday’s meeting. Court members approved the burn with little comment, other than to determine that the ban will remain in place for 90 days unless the court acts earlier to rescind it.

Text of the burn ban wasn’t immediately available, but Cooper said after the meeting that the ban does not apply to lighting and discharging fireworks.

However, court members said otherwise.

County Judge Bob Hebert said the ban does not extend to fireworks sales. In order for that to happen, the county would have had to declare a drought and ban fireworks sales in an official action by about June 15.

But the court’s last session was June 9, and at that time what has become an extended heat wave had not yet reached its current severity (the National Weather Service predicts daytime highs of 98 degrees or more through at least next Tuesday, and said today’s heat index reading could hit 106 degrees).

Thus, Hebert said, the burn ban just approved today “does not affect firecracker sales – but it effectively controls the discharge.” He added that lighting and shooting off fireworks could violate the ban and result in an arrest “if observed by a peace officer.”

“We are officially in a drought,” Hebert added.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers agreed with Hebert, saying the ban won’t prevent fireworks sales but does make lighting or discharging fireworks illegal.

Because of a law requiring a lead time before banning fireworks sales, “the only thing we can do is prevent people from setting fireworks off,” Meyers said.

To make sure he was correct in his interpretation of what is and is not legal under the ban, Meyers said, “I called Austin” and talked to people with expertise in such matters.

With current hot, dry conditions, an errant bottle rocket could start a major blaze, he said, adding that proclaiming a fireworks ban and preventing fireworks from being shot off are two different things.

“Obviously you would have to enforce it to stop it from happening,” Meyers said. “It’s probably something we’ll ask the sheriff and constables to spend some effort on.”

Meyers said he believes city July 4 displays involving closely supervised aerial fireworks probably are not subject to the ban.