Our township is very strict about fireworks - if you get caught there's a huge fine.

However at our vacation home the police are stretched too thin. Our neighbor sets them off on the 4th and it drives my husband crazy because our home is in the woods and there's always the danger of a forest fire.

Oh, how I hate fireworks. I'm not crazy about the professional firework shows...on the 4th.. I understand the draw. but the stupid people who get such a big kick out of lighting a fuse and then listen to the BANG, I figure they came from the shallow end of the gene pool. Where we lived before, the kid next door would be shooting them off a week after the holiday, when I went out and asked him if he was too stupid to read a calendar....the 4th is OVER! When a relative sent some fireworks to a grandson, the kind not legal in Mn, I told my son,who had custody of the kid, that if they set the stuff off, your teaching the kid it is OK to pick and choose which law you want to obey. If they are against the law here, there is a reason. When we lived in Butte MT, the crap was legal and i would see kids as little as 4-5 playing with fireworks....more parents from that shallow end, in my opinion. I guess my dislike comes from how they would distress our then dog, Cheyanne. She would panic.

They're illegal here. By 'private' citizens, that is. If anyone shoots off a firework, we call the police. The trick is: knowing which house set them off. In July each year, for 2 weeks we have the International Fireworks competition. It's a mile from my house. So every 2 or 3 nights, I don't get to go to sleep until they're over. I can even hear the music and the ooh's and ahh's of the crowd.

I guess I am in the minority, I love the sound of them. I figure I have waited all winter to hear the sounds of summer and those are one of them for me.
However, if I had work 4 12 hour shifts and be disturbed by them, my tune could change!
I work for a large police department, we get several calls for fireworks each day and it really bogs us down. There usually isn't much that can be done about them because they are usually over with by the time we get there.

I only "like" fireworks on the night of July Fourth. Last night someone set off a couple a block away and my dog was all scared-shaking,panting,drooling. We've been hearng them on and off for a couple of weeks. Wish they wouldn't do that! When our kids were little, we'd travel to an outdoor park to enjoy professional fireworks shows. Or I'd buy sparklers and let them light them, being careful to put them out and discard the ends and papers. We never shot off the M80's or other big fireworks.

Our kids are deprived. We don't buy fireworks. I do love to watch them being shot off. We found a local place to watch that is safe and without too much hassle. There is always the well meaning neighbor that wants to share with my kids. I don't like fireworks that are shot by the local public because too many people are injured and they can start fires. A young son of my dad's coworker lost his eye when he was little because of a bottle rocket. I remember the eye patches and surgeries.

Our neighbors have been shooting them every night too... last year they were still shooting them around Thanksgiving! There are subdivision rules that say no fireworks.. but since all the people that do it are my close neighbors and I have to live here, I don't say anything. I hate it though.

Hope the noise is over soon for you Kath (and me too!).

I don't know... It kind of sounds like it's more because of your dogs and your work schedule that it's a problem.

If the fireworks are legal there and they are following the noise code hours for your area...I think it's around 7:00am (8:00 on weekends) to 11:00pm here, I don't really see how you can overly complain...I can understand maybe wanting a little sympathy but I'm not sure I'd call them inconsiderate.

I could think it's inconsiderate that people wake me early to cut their grass after I had a late night partying, but if it's after 7 or 8 am I can't really complain. I could also think it was inconsiderate that my neighbors decided to add on and do major construction right after I had a new baby...but the fact is, nobody can please everyone else and work around everyone's schedule.

No fireworks here yet because they are not for sale yet--but with all this flooding and loss of homes and more coming, not sure how this year will go. Probably some local but I too dislike them setting them off days afterwards.

Our neighbors "boys"( they are men now) go to the Indian Firesworks stand every single year and buy the illegal fireworks.They have been shooting them off the past few nights..nothing like a M-80 at 10 PM : (
We stay home in case they hit our house.I go pick up THEIR mess from MY yard. No sense calling the police, we are so rural they would take 40 minutes to get here.

Guess I come from the shallow end of the gene pool. Love fireworks and used to have a block party/BBQ a couple of days before the 4th of July every year. Safe and sane, legal, fireworks. Lots of adult supervision. Kids and adults alike all had a blast and looked forward to it every year.

Fireworks are banned this season in most areas around where I live. We are so terribly dry here that there's too much of a fire danger.

They aren't banned in my area! But condo association does not permit them cause we are in the woods.

People though still shoot them.

Beautiful fireworks from local mall, that I can see from my porch!

Our neighbors make a point of being inconsiderate, the louder the better is their motto

Not only fireworks, but they shoot big guns, loud enough to startle and make you jump, every weekend. After several hours of shooting guns off, they get on their LOUD ATVs and drive in circles for 4-6 more hours. Those things drive us insane.

They don't care.

I really don't mind the fireworks too badly but prefer they not be set off after 10pm or so. We used to set them off at our annual pool party but have not done so for about 5 years. I sort of miss it, we had a 'competition' with a house on the next mountain, we took turns shooting them off all the time, it was fun! LOL!!!

Fireworks are banned in my town and it doesn't take the police but a few minutes to arrive after they are called. An idiot on the street over from me has been setting off firecrackers for the past few years. I call the police when I hear them. Haven't heard them so far this year, so he MAY have grown up. His wife graduated from veterinary school 4 years ago so I figure they are around 30 now. They also have dogs and a pre-school aged child.

I love the reason for the 4th of July holiday, and I like watching professional fireworks shows, but I think the fireworks stands where folks can buy "personal fireworks" should be illegal in all 50 of the United States. At the very least, they shouldn't be sold until 9:00 a.m. (or later) on July 4 and sales should cease at 7:00 p.m. (or earlier) on July 4.

There is a big open area behind our yard -- there is a creek and you can't build within 60 feet of the creek, so there's about 140 feet between our back fence and the closest fence behind ours. Because of the way our lot is shaped, our backyard has four sides - immediately to the west and east of us is a neighbor's house, but the two "back" fences have the big open area. On the other side of one of the back fences, it's a huge open area because once you get past 60 feet on the other side of the creek, there's not enough room to build a house with any sort of yard at all, so it's just vegetation.

And at this time of year when it's hot, it's also dry, and that vegetation dries out and is highly flammable. Before a particular family up the street moved away, the 4th of July (and days and days and days leading up to it) were a time of total fear for me because every year kids would be setting off fireworks in the open field area. Natually, a fire would be the result. Several times the flames came right to the back fence. In 2003, they started a whopper of a fire. All of a sudden our back yard was in flames -- 5 fire trucks spraying water and one helicopter dropping retardant to the rescue. The portion of the back fence that wasn't burning was knocked down by the firemen so they could get through to the other side. Talk about scary!

The next year we had a pool put in and also put a gate in the back fence.

And, yeah, folks somewhere in the general vicinity set off fireworks at all hours.

They haven't started yet but they will soon enough. Our neighbors do whatever they want to, no consideration for anyone.

Lindsey, that sounds awful! I'm glad the firemen put the fire out before it got to your house. I totally sympathize with anyone who has to listen to fireworks before and after the 4th. We are in a very old neighborhood with small houses (except for the occasional McMansion). The long-time neighbors don't do fireworks, but we never know what the newbies will do.

The 4th happens to be my father's birthday - he will be 90 this year. I grew up in the country. Although we didn't belong to a country club, there were two within ten miles, and we could see the fireworks long after we had set off our own. It was a fun time. Now we just go out to dinner or to see public fireworks.

Yes, it was very awful and scary! The fire burned halfway into our back yard. Luckily, we have a very large/deep/wide backy yard. Also, the exterior of our house is stucco, but the framing is wood, and the roof is a heavy wood shake (yes, I know, we're going to replace the roof as soon as we decide which is the most energy efficient and "green" type of roof to get). We do have a very large redwood deck, which would have gone up in flames. The fire came within about 20 feet of it.

Since the little hellions from up the street moved away there haven't been any more 4th of July fires (and I just knocked on wood!).

I like a fireworks display. I enjoy some "personal" fireworks when handled by responsible people. I have had neighbors who set off some huge fireworks shows but what annoyed me was when the stuff was landing on my roof. I had a concern about fire then. Didn't get over to talk to them but they moved quickly anyway.

There's so many other annoyances to me that rate far higher than some firecrackers and bottle rockets. For instance the a$$holes with their d@mn putt-putt motorcycles plopping around 24/7, screaming kids and other things.

I Love Em......YES...!!!!

I like fireworks, too! Both the "expert" ones and the neighborhood ones. However, I think the issue intended by Kath as the OP here is that it's not even close to the 4th of July yet (relatively speaking - - - it's still a week and a half away), and the fireworks have started already.

I agree with Kath that that's a bit much. The 4th of July weekend (or few days around it, if it doesn't occur on the weekend) is fine. But fireworks for the sake of fireworks can be inconsiderate. It's fairly clear that those setting off fireworks now are just liking the thrill of that - not celebrating the independence of the US.

So, I don't agree with saying that Kath's dogs and her schedule are what's making her cranky (my words, interpreting from the above). I think we all can get behind celebrating around the holiday and expect the fireworks. But for it to start this early implies, to me, an adolescent fixation with them.

I love them! Guess I'm in the low end of that gene pool too. (btw, what a RUDE statement)
We live on a court and everyone comes out and shares their safe & sane fireworks. In our town, of less than 10 thousand, we have five of those booths. They are MAJOR fundraisers for our local organizations. It's our youth football/cheer org's biggest of the year. The program would be lost without it. The others are for the baptist church, the volunteer fire depart, the high school band, and another youth sports group. I believe all those booths you'd like to see banned, or only open one day, are fundraisers for something.

Ok, well, I love fireworks too, on the 4th of July, not every day for 2 weeks before and after. I have to work and I give drugs to other humans so I really need to be somewhat rested so I don't kill someone and my dogs don't deserve to be scared to death. I'm sure all the non-working people who like to go to bed early, like the elderly don't want to hear them either, or little babies, other animals in the neighborhood, other working people who have to get up and drive and be able to think clearly at work, etc...so I doubt it just me and my dogs.

This is a recent phenomenon shooting fireworks weeks before. I like them on July 4th and only then, A few years ago some rednecks were shooting them off weeks before, and my friend's antique barn burned to the ground filled with precious antiques hit on the roof by the fireworks. .

If you think dogs get scared, you should see how it affects poor horses. They will do anything to get away from the noise, including tearing down fences.

Firework booths around here are not for fund raisers, they are put up by people expecting to make big bucks off of them and they do!

guess I'm in the shallow end of the gene pool too...and actually think anyone who would make this kind of statement on a public forum with a whole bunch of members is really shallow, rude and probably the one in the shallow end...

I LOVE FIREWORKS...it's one of the fond memories from my childhood...we were poor, yet every year my Mom and Dad would make the trek to the little city near us to watch the fireworks...It was my Dad's birthday and we all grew up saying the entire country was having a party for him...He would have turned 100 this year so you can bet I'll be lighting off something in his honor/memory!

My kids were brought up to respect the dangers of fireworks and to respect their neighbors...the neighborhood I live in would have someone calling the cops hourly if they were shooting them off any other day then July 4th...I would think if a few peeps started getting arrested/fined big time...it would soon put a stop to the early revelers...

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this Kathy...my dogs don't mind them a bit...but their pretty well protected in the house...It must be nervewracking for you...as well as making for some very poor sleeptime...

Groups who have fireworks booths for fundraisers can find another way to raise funds. When I lived in Santa Rosa, CA, some teens set off legal fireworks during the day that burned up a parched hillside and destroyed a home. Right after that the city banned all legal fireworks sales despite the heavy objections that they were fundraisers. Guess what? Those groups found other fundraisers.

"Fireworks symbolize the many cannons fired and the many lives lost in the battle for our independence against Great Britain"

I am going to go out on a limb here. The above statement has nothing to do with why the neighborhood nitwits shoot off fireworks. The true meaning of fireworks today has long ago lost the original meaning. And to go even farther out on that limb, legitimate fireworks displays to me are a blatent waste of monies that could be better put to use in the communities.
I guess I am a 'stick in the mud'. I would never go out of my way to have my ears assulted by the noise and view this waste of money.

Kath, fireworks are not allowed in the city limits here. HUGE fines.

I would see, where they were shot off, and then write those people a note promising calling the police if it happens again.

Of course, unsigned, and through the post office. This is why you need to see, where they originate.

:)

Moni

Sorry if some of you thought my shallow end of the gene pool was rude. Just called it as I see it. Not any more rude than people who are so easily entertained by...light a fuse....hear the bang. Never giving a d@mn that that noise reaches the ears and bothers, startles and scares others. I can understand enjoying the 4th of july....it is one day, bang away to your simple hearts content, but when the 4th is over, its over. I guess we can agree to disagree, and rudeness is in the eyes of the beholder.

LOL, "simple hearts"? My, what a thing to say.

How ARE those New Years Resolutions working for ya these days, dotmom? roflmao

I live in a decent area. Fireworks go off around here after ball games, after some school picnics, community events, outside plays, bigger parties, etc...

They are not limited to a certain class of people, or a certain Holiday weekend. I hear them all summer long...as long as they go off before the 11:00pm posted time, it's ok with me.

LOL we even shoot a cannon (blanks of course) everytime our varsity football team scores a touchdown. We save our leftover fireworks for new years. Course we are simple hearted, low end of the gene pool types here in California.
I hear what everyone is saying, but there are un supervised kids, and inconderate people everywhere. Some right here on this board. I'm sorry some people are disturbed by firecrackers and other people having a fun time, but why do disagreements here turn insulting??

On a side note. We just ended our eighth year with youth football. My DH was president of the board for three of those seasons and VP for one. We fundraise for MONTHS but would not survive without the fireworks booth. We are a not for profit organization and get NO funding from the city. It costs about $20 thousand dollars a season to provide a place for boys and girls from 6-14 years old to play and cheer. We do everything; cookie dough, beef jerky, candles, candy bars, car washes, we sell Raider tickets, and so on. Unfortunately in a small, blue collar town, where most of the kids are selling at the same time, fundraising is very difficult. Fortunately we all happen to love our fireworks and we sell a brand that's different than most. We absolutely need that booth. The kids get help with costs too. I doubt our town is the only one like this.

danihoney just reminded me of a tragedy that happened in our town about 10 years ago.

Our high school used to fire a cannon, too, when they scored a touchdown. Parents of the players and other football booster club members were in charge. One night they were hurrying to put the cannon away after the game and it unfortunately went off, right in the face of the father of one of the football players. He died, of course. Immediately.

They did away with the cannon.

Something fun can turn tragic very quickly.