Heber City Council upheld the Wasatch County Fire District restrictions within city limits, banning fireworks and other hazardous activities for the summer.
The council made clear that it will uphold and enforce the Wasatch Fire District fireworks ban. The council held an emergency meeting last night to announce a decision with plenty of time before July 4th celebrations begin. An infraction will be considered a Class B misdemeanor, punishable with up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
“We feel that because of the severe drought conditions in this state, and with the governor shutting down all of the state lands around us and our Wasatch County Fire Chief Ernie Giles shutting down all fireworks within the unincorporated county surrounding us, Heber City also is quite affected by the lands around us, and we just think it’s really prudent this year to be extremely cautious and let our citizens take a break from lighting fireworks this year,” said Mike Johnston, Heber City councilman.
A city resolution says the penalty for setting off any personal fireworks is a class B misdemeanor charge, a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
Firework vendors must display a notice of the ban, the governor’s executive order and Wasatch County fire restrictions in full.
Those restrictions also include rules against open fires, as well as smoking, and operating fire-prone machinery in some places.
“One incident is going to be difficult, and if we get into two or three incidents, it’s gonna be severely catastrophic here," Johnston said. Our fire department is already gonna be busy managing the public display that Midway City does on the 4th of July off the Memorial Hill, and so we just really wanted to support them and not put that additional danger and risk and burden on them, and on the people that live in our town and around our town.”
The restrictions will remain in effect until September 30.
