Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
A new set of Crescent City Harbor commissioners on Tuesday will discuss a fireworks ordinance that proposes the same fines Del Norte County adopted in a similar ordinance last year.
The proposed regulations regarding fireworks come after 14 people, including a 3-year-old boy, were injured in an explosion that took place on South Beach last Fourth of July.
According to the Harbor District’s staff report, the ordinance follows a model ordinance the California State Fire Marshal issued. Adopting the ordinance will allow the Harbor District to regulate the possession, sale, use, storage and display of fireworks within its jurisdiction.
Under the proposed fireworks ordinance, fines start at $1,000 for a first offense and escalate to $3,000 for repeat offenses, according to the staff report. Sixty-five percent of the fines collected will be diverted to the state fire marshal’s Fireworks Enforcement and Disposal Funds. Any fireworks seized will be reported to CalFire within three days and are held in trust for disposal.
Adopted on Oct. 8, 2024, Del Norte County’s ordinance prohibited all fireworks, including the Safe and Sane variety, in its campgrounds and parks.
In September, the previous Crescent City Harbor Board was adamant that fireworks, even those considered Safe and Sane, didn’t belong in the marina. They directed staff to draft such an ordinance, which included a ban at Whaler Island Groin, but said they would allow Safe and Sane fireworks on the stretch of South Beach that falls within the Harbor District.
The City of Crescent City has had a fireworks ordinance on the books since 2012. That ordinance allows the city to levy fines on anyone who possesses, uses, stores, sells or displays fireworks classified by the State of California as dangerous.
Those include sky rockets, bottle rockets, Roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers and other fireworks that explode, go into the air or move on the ground in an uncontrollable manner.
The Crescent City Harbor District Board meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Harbor District Office at 101 Citizens Dock Road in Crescent City and via Zoom. Meeting agendas are available at ccharbor.com.
