Bill Would Give Cities, Counties Ability to Ban Fireworks

As wildfires raged in state forests and a severe drought persisted, New Mexico leaders were powerless to ban one of the most dangerous causes of fires: fireworks.

Now, state legislators from both parties are coalescing to change the state law that bans, well, bans.

Governor Susana Martinez announced at a news conference Friday that she is working with several state lawmakers who are introducing a bill that would grant local governments authority to enact fireworks bans in extreme drought situations. The bill, which will be introduced in the special legislative session in the Fall, is sponsored by senators Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque; Sander Rue,R-Albuquerque; and Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque. It would also grant the governor power to enact a statewide ban on fireworks in the case of a drought.

Feldman, who unsuccessfully introduced a similar bill in 2004 after dozens of fires burned the Rio Grande bosque, said she was hopeful the bill have a better shot this time around.

“We were surprised last time with the strength of the fireworks industry,” Feldman said. “There is a (fireworks) factory in the western part of the state.”

New Mexico’s Fireworks Licensing and Safety Act gives city and county governments limited authority to ban some types of fireworks, including “aerial devices” such as rockets and Roman candles, and “ground audible” fireworks, such as firecrackers.

Since the governor took office in January, there have been 960 fires and 815,000 fires have burned statewide, she said. That’s not including the approximate 150,000 acres burning in the Jemez Mountains.

Cities like Albuquerque have taken other measures to protect wildland from fires. Mayor Richard J. Berry ordered the bosque shut down for several days, and the city enacted fireworks restrictions. County and state authorities also established strict restrictions on public land, closing several popular hiking trails in the Sandias and other at-risk areas.

But Berry and others publicly said restricting fireworks wasn’t enough. The mayor wrote letters to state legislators asking them to change the law that denies cities authority to ban them.

Martinez said she hoped the bipartisan support for the bill would help get it passed despite the fireworks lobbying industry.

She said Texas, Arizona and New Mexico allow local governments to enact bans.