The MD of Bonnyville is reviewing their fireworks bylaw after a resident complained the noise was responsible for the death of his livestock.
“We’ve had some concerns over fireworks being set off in agricultural areas. The concern is mainly in relation to livestock and animals on farms, and the issues that arise due to the noise, stampedes, injuries, and some livestock deaths,” explained director of public safety Chris Garner.
According to Garner, the MD hasn't received too many grievances from farmers in the past.
“We haven’t received a lot of complaints about fireworks in relation to livestock. We do have some in residential areas, it’s not a common complaint, but it does come up… In regards to livestock, I think this is the first proper complaint that we’ve gotten, however, when we did go back and talk to some other people, we did get stories from how, in the past, fireworks have affected their animals."
During the MD's latest committee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6, council discussed how they could amend the bylaw to address the issue.
In order to set off fireworks within the municipality, a resident must obtain a permit, which are issued by retailers.
The permit includes when and where the fireworks are being used, however, Garner said those issuing them aren't always including a detailed location.
“There’s a location given, and the retailers are supposed to make sure it’s not within a certain location that we don’t allow, like for example, our campgrounds,” he noted. “We don’t allow them there, so if a person were to go to a retailer and say ‘yes my location’s going to be a campground,’ the retailer should say, ‘no, I can’t give you a permit for that.'"
Garner added, “If we’re doing an investigation on fireworks that have gone off, we look at the permit, and it just says location as the MD of Bonnyville. That’s not really an appropriate use of that, it should be far more specific."
This is one of the reasons why they're considering changing their permit process.
“The problem with the point of sale permit is not all people buy their fireworks in the MD or even in town. They could buy them in Edmonton and there they have no clue what permit is required out here," explained Reeve Greg Sawchuk.
Coun. Dana Swigart agreed, “I don’t like the fact that a store owner issues a permit, because of course, they’re going to make a sale so they issue a permit."
Council agreed that their current method wasn't ideal, and tossed around ideas, such as having fire guardians issue the permits.
“We have fire guardians in every one of those areas, and they certainly do burn permits and things like that, so that certainly is an option... They’re usually from that area, so they’re going to be really aware of what’s out there as far as farming and those types of operations,” expressed Garner.
The bylaw will come back to council for further discussion.
