Franklin County Legislators Defend Sparkler Decision

MALONE — County legislators stood by their decision to legalize the limited sale of sparkler devices, in response to a letter of protest from a state association of volunteer firefighters.

The letter was addressed Thursday at the first meeting of the month for the legislature. Robert N. McConville, president of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, wrote to the county legislature after it passed a local law that legalizes the sale of sparkler devices.

Mr. McConville’s letter said the association represents more than 92,000 volunteer firefighters in the state.

Last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law a bill that would allow individual counties to decide whether to allow sparklers. The county legislature passed a resolution legalizing them May 7.

Mr. McConville wrote that FASNY was disappointed in the decision to legalize “fireworks” in the county. He claimed the county legislature was putting “questionable revenue generation before concern for public safety.”

Mr. McConville said the association had advised state and county officials not to allow the devices to get into “the hands of children” and warned about potential risks.

Chairman D. Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay, took the time to clarify the terms of legalizing the sales.

• Sales are legalized only between June 1 and July 5, and between Dec. 26 and Jan. 2.
• Buyers must be 18 or older
• All distributors, manufacturers and retailers must comply with any and all state laws and regulations regarding registration requirements.

“We are not jeopardizing people,” Mr. Jones said, citing the limited time window for sales of a sparkler devices and clear age limit for buying them. “We have just legitimized it.”

“They’ve had them already, legal or illegal,” said Legislator Tim “Guy” Smith, D-Fort Covington, noting that sparklers already had been obtained by Franklin County residents illegally yet with little collateral damage.

Legislator Paul A. Maroun, R-Tupper Lake, agreed with his colleagues, saying after the meeting that Mr. McConville’s letter seemed to overstate the risk posed by sparkler devices.

“These aren’t the big fireworks,” Mr. Maroun said.

The county legislature previously had spoken with Franklin County Emergency Services Director Ricky L. Provost about possible safety issues in regard to the then-proposed resolution. Mr. Provost said fire departments in the county rarely receive calls related to fireworks safety, even with commonplace sparklers.

A similar resolution was passed in St. Lawrence County shortly before Franklin County’s resolution, with significant criticism from St. Lawrence fire officials.