The Birch Bay Community Advisory Committee drew a hearty crowd to its Sept. 17 meeting to gather opinions from the community regarding fireworks usage in Birch Bay.
The committee invited several public officials to speak and answer questions at the meeting, including Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell “Tank” Tanksley, North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Chief Jason Van Der Veen and several Whatcom County council members.
“The fireworks in Birch Bay is really a legacy event, and it’s been going on for a long time,” Tanksley said, discussing some of the logistics that go into enforcement on the Fourth of July.
This year, the sheriff’s office paid for 60 hours of officer overtime just on the Fourth, which cost at least a few thousand dollars.
Some community members wondered whether larger fines or stricter enforcement could help make up some of the additional cost from the holiday. Undersheriff Steve Harris, who was also in attendance, explained that there is a cost associated even with small things that people might not expect and that neither would be a feasible option for making the money back.
Van Der Veen said that the fire district also brought on extra hands for the holiday, with three additional firefighters on duty, which he said cost less than $5,000.
“It’s our busiest day of the year, and typically most traumatic,” Van Der Veen said, adding that bodily injury is “very common.”
The meeting ended with a public comment period, offering members of the community an opportunity to share how fireworks impact their lives.
Many voiced environmental concerns, reporting that herons and eagles they had frequently seen in the area had disappeared since early July.
Others spoke of their personal experiences about the disturbances caused by the noise, litter and air quality.
A hot point of discussion was the beach cleanup organized every July 5. This year, over 8 tons of garbage were collected from the beach, with residents saying that there would likely continue to be trace amounts for months afterwards, not to mention the unknown amount that the tide swept out to sea.
Many said they don’t mind a few hours of festivities on the Fourth — it’s the week of fireworks being shot off at seemingly all hours that’s the real bother. It interrupts their sleep habits, scares their pets and leaves the air hazy and hard to breathe.
One resident said she ran her hose, liberally wetting the grass for days out of fear that her yard would catch fire after debris from her neighbor’s fireworks ended up on her roof.
The discussion stems from council member Kaylee Galloway’s proposal of stricter fireworks regulations for unincorporated Whatcom County.
In early June, Galloway brought recommendations to the council which included reducing the number of days that fireworks may be set off, citing feedback from concerned community members and research regarding the safety issues fireworks bring. Later in the month, the council voted to postpone adopting new regulations to review them further and hear more community feedback.
