Public has a short fuse on subject of fireworks

The recent ruckus over fireworks is further proof that an absolutely correct decision is rare, and if you’re a politician, you’re likely to get beat up either way.

After Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head cancelled their July 4 fireworks shows, local elected officials got an earful. The decisions left people along the Dare County beaches with two choices if they wanted to get close to pyrotechnics: joining the crowd hunting for parking spaces in Manteo or joining the crowd hunting for parking spaces in Corolla.

Another choice, if you were up to the hike, was to watch Manteo’s show from Jockey’s Ridge some three three miles away on the other side of the Roanoke Sound.

Given the consternation over tax increases and government waste during recent budget deliberations, I would bet that if the shows went on, complaints would have flowed from another contingent. And they’d have a point. At a time when local governments are pinching pennies for everything else, it is hard to justify burning money — literally.

One of the complaints about the cancellations was that July 4 week is historically the year’s biggest tourist draw on the Outer Banks and visitors expect to see fireworks reasonably close to where they’re staying. Keep canceling them, and the tourists will go somewhere else, the argument goes.

That’s a nice tip of the hat to the local economy, but I think there was probably as much disappointment from local folks that they couldn’t watch fireworks from their decks or the ends of their streets.

While tightening its budget last year, Nags Head decided that the town probably should think hard about spending the $20,000 or so on fireworks plus $7,000 to $10,000 in police and fire department overtime.

Kill Devil Hills cited tight money, too, but later said that new state regulations were chiefly to blame. Nags Head also said the new rules played a part in its decision. After the deaths of four workers unloading a fireworks truck in Ocracoke last year, the state enacted a law requiring a class and testing for people handling pyrotechnics.

In late June, the General Assembly approved legislation temporarily easing the requirements this year so that fireworks shows could go on. But for many towns it was too late.

Kill Devil Hills had already decided that it could not get the training and testing for town personnel who help with the fireworks, Fire Chief Doug Penland said.

The town also found that for safety reasons, it would need to shut down Avalon Fishing Pier for more than a day. Town Manager Debora Diaz said that opened up the prospect of providing compensation to the pier’s owner.

Overall, the confluence of complications and heightened sensitivity for safety led to the decision to cancel this year’s display and take another year to think about it.

“I think we all saw how quickly a tragedy can happen,” Diaz said.

Nags Head’s idea to collaborate with Kill Devil Hills to put on a display next year seems like a good one. The Nags Head Board of Commissioners also agreed to approach the Dare County Tourism Board about helping to foot the bill. That sounds like an even better idea.

Where to launch them is a big question. One suggestion is the new state-owned Jennette’s Pier, which is scheduled to open by Memorial Day. But that’s a far piece from Kill Devil Hills.

It would also be interesting to see what the state has to say about fireworks being launched at a brand new, $25 million facility.

In any case, it’s apparent that elected leaders heard their constituents on this one.

“We’re going to make every effort to restore the fireworks show if we can,” Kill Devil Hills Mayor Ray Sturza said at last week’s Board of Commissioners meeting.

This column originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.

Related: Fireworks decision was a real dud »

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources photo.

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