Pretty to look at but potentially terrifying to residents — human and animals alike — fireworks have become an ever-growing bone of contention in Phoenix.
As residents rang in the new year, the boom of aerial fireworks echoed across the city for hours, and many frustrated residents welcomed 2024 looking through the haze of smoke that settled in the Valley. Added to that, the sale and use of many fireworks is illegal in the city of Phoenix, but Arizona State Law allows both — and that law supersedes municipal code.
The Phoenix Fire Department offers information on the use of fireworks in the city on their website, including this graphic of permissible fireworks (photo courtesy of Phoenix Fire Department).
Arizona Revised Statutes section 36-1606 regulates when permissible fireworks can be bought, sold and used in Arizona. The sale of permissible consumer fireworks is allowed April 25-May 6, May 20-July 6, Dec. 10-Jan. 3 and two days before the first day of Diwali through the third day of Diwali, which varies and falls between mid-October and mid-November each year. The use of these fireworks is allowed May 4-6, June 24-July 6, Dec. 26-Jan. 3, and the second and third days of Diwali each year.
In addition, the use of fireworks is prohibited between the hours of 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., except for New Year’s Eve, between 11 p.m. Dec. 31 and 1 a.m. Jan. 1, and between the hours of 11 p.m. on July 4 through 1 a.m. on July 5 of each year.
Beyond the noise, the danger of fire is real. The Phoenix Fire Department reported that the average fire call volume increased 161 percent from Dec. 30, 2023, to Jan. 1, 2024. Before 2010, fireworks were illegal. On July 4, 2009, the Fire Department responded to 17 fire incidents versus 176 fire incidents on July 4, 2023, a 935 percent increase.
A petition was launched in 2019 that calls for a ban of consumer fireworks, citing a variety of issues. Concerned residents can also contact members of the state legislature and ask them to repeal the law allowing the sale and use of fireworks.
Find a list of permissible fireworks at www.phoenix.gov/fire/safety-information/fire-safety/fireworks.
