Without discussion, the Pennsburg Borough Council last week formally approved an ordinance prohibiting the use of aerial fireworks. The members voted unanimously to ratify it during a May 12 meeting on Zoom.

            The measure is supported by Joe Adam, Chief of the Upper Perk Police Department, according to Council President Diane Stevens. It does not prevent children from safely playing with sparklers, snaps and similar devices.

            In March, Adam asked the members to make fireworks illegal in the municipality. The members agreed, unanimously directing Solicitor Daniel Sager to craft an ordinance to ban them.

            House Bill 542, signed into law in 2017 by Gov. Tom Wolf, allows consumers to purchase "consumer-grade" fireworks that include firecrackers, Roman Candles, bottle rockets and similar fireworks that contain a maximum of 50 milligrams of explosive material, according to information posted on the Pennsylvania State Police website.

            The law, which repeals the Fireworks Act of 1939, states that fireworks cannot be discharged within 150 feet of an occupied structure, that they cannot be discharged from or within a motor vehicle or a building or toward a motor vehicle or a building.

            Adam argued during the March 10 meeting that since no one in the borough can comply with that space requirement, those fireworks should not be permitted. After the meeting, the chief said he preferred having the prohibition in black and white.

            "That way everyone will know they are illegal," said Adam, who claimed that the aerial fireworks were presumed to have caused at least two fires in the borough. "No one will have any excuses."