Salt Lake City bans fireworks due to drought
With drought conditions worsening across Utah and much of the west, Salt Lake City has issued a ban on fireworks in an attempt to prevent fires taking place outside.
On Tuesday, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall that smoke bombs and sparklers would also be a part of the ban. Open burning is also no longer permitted under the ban.
“Our foothills, our open spaces, and even our yards and park strips are dry and could be ignited by a single spark,” Mendenhall said in a statement. “These conditions present a very real, immediate threat of fire.”
Currently, 90% of Utah is facing extreme or exceptional drought conditions.
According to The Associated Press, fireworks are already banned on state and unincorporated business lands in the state, but Gov. Spencer Cox believes that he does not have the legal basis to enforce a statewide ban.
It also remains unclear if current Utah law gives localities the ability to ban fireworks as Mendenhall did, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The only applicable restrictions that are implemented state wide include local governments being made unable to ban the use of fireworks and other explosives on Independence Day and the Utah celebration of Pioneer Day, except “in certain areas with hazardous environmental conditions.”
