North Carolina May Increase Safety Oversight of Fireworks Firms

Article

A panel of North Carolina lawmakers began trying to improve fireworks safety last week following a fatal July 4 Outer Banks explosion by approving a bill that would require state oversight for those who transport pyrotechnics and set them off.

A Senate committee recommended a measure that would require someone who wants to operate a public fireworks display to get a two-year license from the state fire marshal after passing a test, getting a minimum level of training and assisting with at least three other displays.

Current state law requires fireworks displays to be “under supervision of experts” who have been approved by local governments to set off these explosives in the past.

But “there are no clear standards for what an expert is,” said Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, who is shepherding the bill through the Senate so that “we would ensure the ultimate safety of not only those that operate the fireworks but the general public.”

Four workers from Davis’ district employed by a South Carolina company unloading fireworks from a truck died after a single blast at an Ocracoke Island marina. A fifth worker survived.

The measure, also pushed by Senate leader Marc Basnight, who represents Ocracoke, would prevent city councils or county commissions from granting a permit to someone to operate a fireworks display unless the person had proof of insurance of at least $500,000.

While the bill passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee, some members raised concerns about whether the measure would address the cause of the explosion. Federal agents determined the cause was accidental. The state Labor Department also is looking into whether the company trained employees.

Davis said the bill, which now goes to the Senate Finance Committee because the operator’s license would cost as much as $100, at the very least will fix problems in the law uncovered in the explosion’s aftermath.

The North Carolina League of Municipalities doesn’t have any problems with the bill at first glance, league lobbyist Kelli Kukura.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, who is also the state fire marshal, also endorsed the bill, which he called “a reasonable way” to protect the public on the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve and other celebrations.

“It is vital to public safety that we have minimum training standards in place developed by experts in my office,” Goodwin said in a news release. “We also need minimum oversight by my office both to ensure that there is appropriate insurance coverage and in order to prevent dangerous, non-permitted persons from operating these public displays.”