‘It’s a nuisance.’ Complaints over illegal fireworks surge in Lexington neighborhoods.

Fireworks complaints in the week leading up to Fourth of July have increased nearly five-fold compared to last year in Lexington. Many local residents have turned to their neighborhood social media pages to express widespread annoyance with the pyrotechnics, which are illegal in Fayette County.

From June 28 to July 1 this year, the Lexington Police Department has received 209 noise complaint calls concerning fireworks, according to Public Information Officer Brenna Angel. During the same week-long period last year, there were only 40 complaints.

Ramona Rush, who lives in Park Hills, said that fireworks have been shot off around the outskirts of her neighborhood for the past two weeks every night. She said sometimes they start as early as 8 p.m. and end as late as 11:30 p.m.

Rush said that in light of a recent Herald-Leader article about a home near her getting shot at, she has been worried.

“It’s a nuisance,” she said. “We don’t know if we’re being bombed, shot at or just harassed.”

According to the City of Lexington’s website and local ordinances, all aerial and audible ground fireworks devices are prohibited from sale or use within the county—”if it goes up or blows up, it’s illegal.” This includes bottle rockets, helicopters, firecrackers, chasers and Roman candles.

However, ground and hand-held sparkling devices are allowed, for those looking to celebrate the holiday without causing safety hazards. According to State Law KRS 227.702, these fireworks include fountains, ground spinners, sparklers and toy smoke devices.

In addition to these fireworks rules, Lexington-Fayette’s Code of Ordinances Section 14-72 also prohibits residents from operating any device that creates a noise disturbance that can be heard beyond their property between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays, and before 9 a.m. on weekends.

Multiple Lexington residents have taken to their neighborhood social media pages to express annoyance at the frequency and noise of illegal firework usage in the past weeks.

Members of the Kenwick, Idle Hour and Cardinal Valley neighborhood Facebook pages, among others, have posted multiple times in the past two weeks about the fireworks. Some have said they sound like gunshots or explosions, or have scared their pets and babies.

“Are we in a warzone?” asked one Kenwick resident on the group page.

Those breaking the rules can face penalties.

According to Code of Ordinances Section 9A-8, residents using illegal fireworks can be charged with a misdemeanor and made to pay a fine—$250 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for the third within a 12-month period.

Businesses selling prohibited fireworks also face a minimum penalty of $500 within Fayette County.

Sgt. Donnell Gordon of the Lexington Police Department said that if neighbors have a complaint and can’t talk to their neighbors about it, they should call the police non-emergency line, 859-258-3600, to make a report.

Sgt. Gordon said that when officers come out to the residence, they will typically have a conversation with people on their first offense.

“Some people don’t know there is an ordinance in place,” he said.

Angel said that if police get calls about the same person after they have already issued a verbal warning, officers may issue a citation.

She added that officers’ responses are determined by available resources, since other calls, like those concerning robberies, domestic violence or other crimes, are higher priority.

Some Facebook posters said that calling the police often wasn’t helpful, since it was hard to pinpoint the exact location of the fireworks and catch the offenders in the act before they went inside.

Lexington is not alone; according to a New York Times article, residents who have been cooped up by COVID the past few months may be looking to blow off some steam. The metropolis has seen fireworks complaints to the 311 non-emergency line increase 80-fold compared to last year at this time.

Louisville’s division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in a news release Thursday, called for residents to observe safety guidelines and local rules when using fireworks in light of the home fireworks increase. The release stated that between 2003 and 2019, there were approximately 128 fireworks-related deaths, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).

This is in addition to about 10,000 fireworks-related injuries that required emergency department attention in 2019.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton announced in a June 10th news conference that the city-wide fireworks show will still go on on July 4th from 9 to 10 p.m. The fireworks will be shot off from RJ Corman’s launch site, and should be visible downtown and within a mile radius of the site.

Gorton encouraged those who are not within that radius to drive their cars to a parking lot to view them safely from a social distance. Those who are watching outside their cars should wear masks and maintain a six feet distance from other families.

“There have been so many things we have had to say ‘no’ to in recent weeks,” Gorton said. “For fireworks on the Fourth of July it was time to say ‘yes.’”

Rush said that she thinks Mayor Linda Gorton should tell Lexington residents to stop shooting off fireworks and that people should be informed about the ordinances against illegal fireworks, especially before the Fourth of July.

“It’s a big noise disruptor, for what reason?” Rush said. “I don’t want to appear cranky or anything, but you can only stand so much of it.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 5:12 PM.