Were more Whatcom residents lighting fireworks this year or did it just seem that way?
Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood said he celebrated the Fourth of July at a friend’s house north of Bellingham, and he recorded the sound of the fireworks that were being set off at about 10 p.m. just so he could show friends how loud it was.
“Then I came back to town around 11, and it was just as loud,” Fleetwood said during the Bellingham City Council meeting Monday, July 6. “It was just as unbelievable.”
That was despite consumer fireworks being prohibited in the City of Bellingham since 2012.
“I don’t know if we just got accustomed to considerable compliance in recent years or what, but many of us experienced and we’ve heard lots of reports from lots of constituents sort of wondering what in the world is going on,” Fleetwood said during the meeting.
With the coronavirus pandemic canceling public Fourth of July fireworks displays in Whatcom County, residents were left to their own devices to find ways to celebrate Independence Day. At least according to a number of social media posts and “the ear test,” many more residents than usual turned to lighting fireworks themselves this year.
“Every PD (police department) and WCSO (Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office) dealing with a ton of fireworks complains,” read a Whatcom County Breaking News post made on Facebook at 11:52 p.m. July 4 that was commented on 317 times and shared 26 times.
While impossible to actually quantify if more people were setting fireworks this year because of COVID-19, both the Bellingham Police Department and Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said they saw an increase in the number of fireworks complaints logged.
In Bellingham, the number of complaints increased by 77.9% over 2019.
Over the three-day holiday weekend, Bellingham police received 23 calls about fireworks on Friday, July 3, 123 calls on Saturday, July 4, and 23 calls on Sunday, July 5 — a total of 189 calls — Lt. Claudia Murphy reported to The Bellingham Herald in an email. The same three dates in 2019, Bellingham police received 11, 73 and 11 calls — a total of 95.
Fortunately, Murphy said none of the calls were notable for injury or fire.
“We’ll review and consider what happened, and I guess next year we’ll have to do some public outreach and remind people — perhaps new citizens — that fireworks are illegal in Bellingham,” Fleetwood said Monday.
According to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office’s activity reports, there were 96 calls for fireworks in progress during the three-day weekend in the county, where many fireworks are permitted, with 10 Friday, 53 Saturday and 33 Sunday.
Activity reports for 2019 were not available online to compare those numbers, but Chief Deputy Kevin Hester in an email to The Herald said, “I would say it was up over last year.”
“I worked our Birch Bay operation on Saturday and between that and the rest of the county I would say the personal use of fireworks was higher than normal years, maybe because there were no organized shows,” Hester said.
Because fireworks are permitted in the county before midnight, he said calls are just broadcast as “watch-for’” until the legal cut off time, when deputies respond to fireworks calls.
Hester said he also did not hear of any major fireworks-related mishaps.
“The bay was good, with a lot of people out and about, mostly families,” Hester wrote of Birch Bay. “Numbers were down from the last couple of years with the border being closed and the Canadian population not able to attend, but still plenty of people and cars. No major incidents and everyone was very well-behaved and respectful.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
