Should certain fireworks be allowed in Utah

Isaiah Aragon, Reporter

Chris Vlamakis
We all love the fourth of July in America, where we can light fireworks to celebrate our freedom and Independence with our family and friends. We have barbeques during the daytime then as night approaches we set up our fireworks to light off.

Living in Utah every summer we have wildfires that burn thousands of acres. Wildfires destroy Utah’s beautiful scenery and take camping spots away from Utah’s campers. The wildfires don’t only cause smoke in our air and make the pollution terrible and make it hard for people with breathing problems to breathe. Some can’t even go outside because of how bad the air quality is. The fires also have an effect on our wildlife such as deer, elk, bears, etc. Our wildlife won’t be able to feed during the winter instead they will starve.

Not only do fireworks cause wildfires but they can also start house fires in the city. People as well don’t understand that after lighting fireworks you have to soak them with water and leaving them on the curb and not in the garbage right away. Just as every year we will hear “make sure to have a water hose or a bucket of water nearby” to prevent fires that are caused by fireworks.

Dirk Menzel a woodshop teacher at Taylorsville High School, says “Utah has a lot of farmland so there should be stricter laws in certain locations such as where farming is popular” Menzel, said. Utah has only three major days that you can light fireworks which are the Fourth of July, Twenty-Fourth of July, then New Years. Which doesn’t seem to be much of a problem only three major Holidays? You can light fireworks but some people that enjoy them wish that there could be more days to light fireworks on holidays.

Utah made aerial fireworks legal in 2011, since then there have been more fires caused by fireworks reported. In Candice Madsen and Debbie Dujanovic story called “Data shows an increase in July fires after aerials became legal in Utah” in the story, it has a graph that shows how much fires have started in Utah.

There are two sides to what people think about fireworks and what should happen to them such as Ronnie Martinez who is a worker at L3 Communications “Fireworks should be banned if Utah is too dry and hasn’t had any precipitation in the past week from the days people are allowed to light fireworks, with how dry it is in Utah”.

Fireworks are an awesome way to celebrate our nation’s holidays and Utah’s holidays. However, they are very dangerous and can cause fires that destroy acres and homes.