Believe it or not the Fourth of July is literally a couple of months away and because of the lack of rainfall we’ve been getting over the past several months El Paso County Commissioners Court may ban the sale of fireworks this year. Fireworks vendors say they have a plan that would allow Commissioners Court to keep a handle on the fire danger posed by fireworks and still allow them to sell them.

Vendors are asking the County to be allowed to sell fireworks for the week of June 28 and July 4, and to sweeten the deal they will voluntarily not sell missiles and rockets. Vendors say that people can get around a ban in El Paso County by going up the road to New Mexico and bringing them back here. They also say that banning fireworks doesn’t prevent fires and it’s devastating to the local fireworks industry.

Michael Smith
Michael Smith
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County Commissioners were discussing a fireworks ban during their regular meeting on Monday. El Paso Fire Department officials say they have worked with the fireworks industry in previous years to "address concerns” about fireworks. The officials did say however that banning rockets and missiles would be a safer alternative. County Commissioners were told by EPFD officials that fireworks bans in previous years have helped prevent brush fires in Montana Vista where they are usually set off by sometimes hundreds of people on the Fourth of July.

One County Commissioner said that she knows that this year there will probably be an uptick in people going out to Montana Vista to pop fireworks because of the stay at home orders due to COVID last year and it’s going to be a problem to keep everyone as safe as possible. Fireworks are banned in the city limits of El Paso. You can't sell or buy them inside the city limits. We'll let you know as soon as the County decides on whether they will be banning them this year.

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