ST. LOUIS — Addressing a gathering of St. Louis press Monday morning, Captain Garon Mosby with the St. Louis Fire Department stressed the danger of fireworks.
"There is no safe way to discharge consumer fireworks," Mosby said. "They're very dangerous, severe injuries occur, emergency room visits, occupied building fires, vacant building fires and, of course in St. Louis, we have been accustomed to the dumpster fires."
Mosby sounded frustrated during the presser.
"It drives up our call volume. We are a busy department we average 200 to 250 responses per day. Over the July 4th holiday 2020, on July 4th, we ran 572 responses," he said.
The department will beef up its staffing ahead of the holiday, but hopes word gets out this year to skip at-home fireworks for professional displays. Mosby said last year's campaign worked.
"People are responding, so we are thankful for that. We only had 499 responses," he said.
Firefighters aren't the only ones asking people to forgo illegal fireworks. Veterans want people to be mindful.
Mark Sundluv is a veteran and the Director of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum.
"Please think before you set off that M-80, your neighbor may be a 70-year-old veteran, a Vietnam War veteran," he said. "To him, those booms of those fireworks could bring him right back to the Vietnam war. The sounds of bottle rockets could easily bring back flashbacks to a veteran of the Iraq war."
In the City of St. Louis, selling, buying and using fireworks is prohibited. Public displays of fireworks can be done if a person or entity gets written approval from the city fire marshal.
The penalty for shooting off fireworks in the city could be a fine of $100-500 and/or five to 90 days in jail for each violation.
If someone is convicted for a second violation within a 12-month period, they could be fined $300-500 and/or spend 10-90 days in jail for each violation.