LYNN — The City Council has created an Illegal Fireworks Enforcement Committee to combat the use of personal, illegal fireworks in the city, particularly during the summer months.
The idea for such a committee was prompted after city councilors reported receiving a large increase in the number of fireworks complaints last summer, according to Ward 5 Councilor Dianna Chakoutis, who co-chairs the new subcommittee.
Lynn was not alone in experiencing the uptick, with police and elected officials in several communities speculating that the increase was largely due to more people spending time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying restrictions.
“They’re just getting out of control,” Chakoutis said. “I heard a lot about people with post-traumatic stress disorder having a really hard time with the amount of fireworks that were going off for like three months last summer.”
Chakoutis said fireworks started going off in the city last May and continued well into August. Some elderly people leave town for the Fourth of July to avoid hearing the fireworks, but there was no getting away from the constant barrage last summer, she said.
“It’s nerve-racking for them,” she said. “We’re not going to be able to completely put a stop to it, but we can hopefully alleviate it a little bit.”
According to the Boston Herald, complaints over fireworks being set off from before dusk to after midnight skyrocketed in Boston by 2,300 percent during the pandemic. With many events canceled due to the pandemic, some retailers sold consumer fireworks online and offered early bird discounts, according to Slate magazine.
Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard said that after what the city experienced last year in regards to fireworks, it would be best to get ahead of the problem this year.
“I do think that the increase that we experienced last year was because there wasn’t a lot that people could do with COVID-19 and all, so they ran to New Hampshire and bought fireworks and stayed home and lit them off — every night,” Starbard said.
Starbard said some of the councilors purchased signs and put them up to try to discourage illegal fireworks use, but that yielded limited results.
“I am hoping that, with this committee, which is chaired by Councilors (Brian) LaPierre and Chakoutis, working with the Lynn Police Department, we can start going after the trouble spots now and nip the activity in the bud before it mushrooms into what we experienced last year,” Starbard said.
LaPierre, a councilor-at-large, said the amount of complaints he’s received for that issue have increased “tenfold” in the past three years.
“Unfortunately, it is that time of year again when folks decide to light illegal fireworks at all hours of the night. It traumatizes pets, senior citizens and other residents,” LaPierre said.
LaPierre said the new fireworks subcommittee needs to tackle the problem with a combination of education, prevention and enforcement. He said he looks forward to future discussions on “how to curb illegal fireworks in the city.”
“We need to capitalize on what we are already doing well,” he said. “This includes signage that councilors purchased last year and installed in various neighborhoods across the city, but the real answer is holding folks accountable as we get closer to July 4. Fireworks are indeed illegal and won’t be tolerated in the City of Lynn.”
The City Council fireworks subcommittee will discuss possible options to reduce the usage of illegal fireworks in the city, including a proposed home rule petition to increase fines, during a meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected]
