The first reading of an amendment to the City of Washington’s fireworks code reducing the days of permitted use to three per year was approved at the recent council meeting.

Multiple residents spoke against allowing fireworks in the city at all during the public comment section. Mayor Sandra Johnson asked City Attorney Kevin Olson what liability there is for the city if there is damage and the origin of the firework debris cannot be determined. Olson said the city would not be liable, “It’d just be like the city should’ve put a stop sign at this intersection or not. It’s a legislative function of the city council and it’s not a question of liability – we’re restricting something that the state allows, and I don’t think you can sue the state either. … And I’m not saying that’s not a valid concern, because number one either the person who put it off you don’t know where it came from, or number two you find who did and they can’t pay for it anyway.”

The changes would allow fireworks be used in city limits each year on July 3rd and 4th, and December 31st until 12:30 a.m. January 1st. There will be two more public readings of the proposed changes before it is adopted.