Phoenix administration is preparing tougher penalties for lawbreakers who use illegal fireworks and pose widespread threats ranging from fires and air pollution to the mental health of some veterans and others.
The disclosure by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays came during a City Council Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee meeting that partly looked at the results of a stepped up media campaign and police response to fireworks complaints.
And tougher penalties can’t come soon enough, according to Councilwoman Ann O’Brien and Councilman Jim Waring, who warned that a public education campaign alone is insufficient to deter dangerous behavior that continues to disrupt neighborhoods and threaten public safety.
“One of our next steps is to provide the council with some potential amendments to the code to strengthen our position as it relates to enforcement of these issues,” Bay told the subcommittee.
Promising that at some unspecified time, the administration would give the panel and then the full council some recommended changes, Bay said:
“One of the things that we’re actually looking at there are those penalties, and can we emphasize the importance of these codes and penalties in order to make those very points to the community – that this is important, and if you are going to break these laws, then there are going to be significant consequences for it.”
Subcommittee members pressed city staff on whether tougher enforcement tools are needed to reduce illegal fireworks activity, particularly during the Fourth of July and New Year’s holidays.
While state law allows the use of sparklers and related items around some holidays, it forbids any aerial explosives.
Several members emphasized that while outreach and inspections have reduced incidents, illegal fireworks remain a persistent problem across the city.
“I really think probably tougher penalties and more officers out in the field is probably the answer,” Councilman Jim Waring said, arguing that messaging campaigns may not reach those most likely to break the law.
“Making examples out of fools who are doing that is probably the way to go,” he said.
O’Brien was shocked when she asked how businesses that sell them are treated and whether their contraband is confiscated, noting a report said some were confiscated but some were removed from shelves and returned to legal out-of-state distributors.
“How did you discern when you were going to confiscate them versus return them?” O’Brien asked.
Patton replied, “We did not confiscate any this last year.”
“Rather than confiscating that, we have them removed from the sales floor, isolated in the back room, and either send it back immediately, or it goes back with their product that’s unsold by state law to ensure we get off the sales floor,” Patton added.
Stating “I don’t necessarily want to punish our retailers for mistakes that are someone else’s mistakes” – namely a distributor that sends illegal fireworks to store – O’Brien at the same time thought the city needs a better way of tracking repeat offenders.
Depending on whether a merchant is handed a civil or criminal citation, sales of illegal fireworks can carry a fine of $500 to $2,500 or up to six months in jail.
Last year the city inspected over 600 fireworks sales sites, including 176 unannounced inspections at newly identified locations.
“I also want to know how do we make those who don’t want to play by the rules pay the price?” O’Brien asked. “Because it is making our community pay a price.
“Our community members are up all night, or, God forbid, have tragedies occur because of others. The air quality is a whole other conversation.”
The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) reported last year that on Jan. 1, 2025, air monitors that day in west Phoenix recorded the highest 24-hour fine particulate matter concentration in the United States and the third highest worldwide.
Fireworks calls for service increased significantly last July 4.
(City of Phoenix)
City officials said they are seeing positive results from the Fireworks Safety Task Force, an interdepartmental group formed after a sharp increase in fireworks-related complaints to council offices and spikes in police and fire calls during holiday periods.
The task force includes staff from the City Manager’s Office, Police and Fire departments, the City Prosecutor’s Office, Communications Office, and several other departments.
Assistant Fire Chief Justin Alexander told the subcommittee the task force’s mission is to “protect public safety, reduce nuisances and enhance health by reducing and ultimately eliminating aerial, illegal fireworks within city limits,” while working within the constraints of state law, which limits local authority over fireworks use during certain dates.
State law preemption remains a major challenge.
Assistant Fire Marshal Eric Williams explained that while Phoenix’s fire code prohibits consumer fireworks, state statutes allow certain ground-based fireworks during designated periods, restricting how aggressively the city can enforce violations.
“What we’re trying to do as a task force is look for ways to leverage, especially our enforcement, our inspections, and all of our activities to try and reduce those amounts,” Williams said.
Over the past year, the task force expanded inspections of fireworks vendors, conducting more than 600 point-of-sale checks at stores and tents, including unannounced inspections at newly identified locations.
Fire Prevention staff also conducted post-holiday inspections to ensure fireworks were removed once legal sales periods expired.
Police officials reported that each precinct deployed dedicated fireworks enforcement teams during recent holidays, supported by a new radio code that improved tracking of fireworks-related calls.
Community Action Officers conducted outreach in neighborhoods with historically high call volumes, while a citywide “Celebrate Safely” campaign delivered bilingual messaging about fireworks laws, safety risks, air quality impacts and reporting procedures.
Waring said he appreciated the difficulty enforcing fireworks laws, noting, “We got 5,000 miles of streets. It’s a lot of area for you guys to cover.”
Phoenix Police dedicate two-officers in each precinct to investigate complaints about illegal fireworks during the July 4th and New Year’s periods. As a result, officers made 3,000 contacts with residents.
Stating “we are committed to enforcing existing fire code provisions that regulate the sale possession and use of fireworks” and that “ensuring the public safety remains our highest priority,” Bay stressed that education is an important part of curbing illegal fireworks use.
“We are working to inform residents about the laws in place and the very real risks associated with aerial fireworks. We also know that holiday,” she said.
Fire officials also said that there are dangers even in ground-based fireworks that are permitted by law, citing the MAG report on air pollution.
“If we can help folks understand the repercussions of even the ground based fireworks, I think that that’s something that we hope that the community will respond to, and hopefully we can lessen the use of even the ground-based fireworks,” Williams said.