Citing hundreds of annual calls to 911 and complaints about fireworks, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert is proposing a cutback in the days fireworks can be bought and used. Under her plan, fireworks would be allowed from June 30 through July 4.
The current ordinance allows the sale and use of fireworks from June 25 through July 4. "These complaints are numerous and there for many different reasons. It's the noise that goes on all night long that people can't sleep. It's the effects on the pets. It's the damage to property. It's personal injuries," Stothert says.
She is also proposing a change in the hours fireworks are allowed from the current 8 a.m. - 11 p.m. to Noon - 11 p.m. with an exception for the 4th when the earlier start time would be allowed.
The members of the Military Service Advisory Board voiced their support for the changes to protect veterans who suffer from PTSD. Board members Ben Wormington served three tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps. He says Independence Day can be a tense holiday for his family.
“This time of year, when the Fourth of July rolls around, it’s hard to ignore the effects that those fireworks and the memories they bring back,” he said. “If you haven’t been to combat situation, you should know, and I’ll tell you that – fireworks sound exactly like it. When you think of those whistlers flying overhead, it sounds like RPGs or rounds flying by your head. When you hear a mortar exploding, it sounds like an IED or an artillery shell.”
The Nebraska Humane Society spends this time of year trying to reunite scared pets with their owners. “Every year our stray intake numbers of dogs go up the week prior to the Fourth of July. And that’s dogs that are in their own back yards, who are trying to escape the explosions taking place around them. They jump the fences, they burrow under the fences – or whatever method they can use to get out of those yards – and they take off running,” says spokesman Mark Langan.
Langan says runaway pets have an increased risk of being struck by a vehicle. He added that some pet owners are forced to sedate their pets during fireworks season.
If passed, the ordinance would be effective for the December 2018 season, ahead of New Year’s Eve. The council will need approve the changes.