WINDHAM – About a dozen Windham residents shot up a barrage of complaints at the Windham Town Council Tuesday night regarding the scourge they say is blanketing Windham’s skies at night.

The residents, who represented all areas of town and were surprised to see they weren’t alone in their complaints, say fireworks are being shot off nightly in their neighborhoods, keeping them from getting a good night’s sleep, disturbing their farm and domestic animals and in general causing safety concerns and neighborhood tension.

“Over the last three weeks, four weeks, we’ve heard nothing but fireworks,” said Chris Henderson, of Main Street in South Windham. “Now it’s to the point that I have a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, and the people across have three little ones, [and they’re] awake every night until 10 p.m. It’s not healthy for kids. People who have to work third shift, people who just have to get good sleep.”

The possession, sale and use of fireworks became legal in Maine Jan. 1, with use permitted 9 a.m.-10 p.m. except for around July 4 and New Year’s Eve, when the times are extended. Municipalities, however, were given the right to restrict the sale and use of fireworks. In February, the Windham Town Council voted against any restrictions.

Henderson said he would welcome fireworks on celebratory occasions such as the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, but not every night.

“It’s now just a continual thing every night, and it’s to the point you can’t go to bed before 10 p.m.,” he said. “You can’t enjoy a conversation without hearing bang, boom.”

Grant Byras, of Harvest Hill Road in North Windham, urged the council to adopt an ordinance similar to Scarborough’s, which limits fireworks to New Year’s and Independence Day. Byras was looking for help from his local government to fight against something the state government imposed.

“Fireworks should be something that brings the community together and what I’m finding in my neighborhood on Harvest Hill Road is it’s actually dividing the community,” Byras said. “There are people who want to enjoy fireworks on their own property and there are people who really don’t want to hear it. And that’s where we need some help.”

Byras’ wife, Sharon, gave further detail of the family’s dilemma.

“My dog goes crazy. I go crazy. [My husband and I] both have to wake up early in the morning, so it’s just bothersome,” she said. “Even at 9 p.m. it’s bothersome if we have to be in bed for early days and early flights.”

“There are veterans who live in our neighborhood who have post traumatic stress disorder. It sounds like gunshots,” Byras continued. “Babies are in our neighborhood, too. It’s problematic for the babies. So, to me, I try to treat my neighbors with respect. I would love to go outside and mow my lawn very early in the morning because it’s cool. I don’t do that because I don’t want to wake up children and I don’t want to subject everyone to the decibel levels.”

Michael Greene, a resident of River Road, said he worries about his neighbors who shoot fireworks close to his treeline.

“I don’t know what my legal rights are as far as what happens if my trees catch on fire … my house is endangered,” Greene said. “I’ve got a little girl, can’t get her to sleep. She’s up all hours of the night.”

Greene lobbied for a local ordinance to spare residents from irresponsible users of fireworks, of which there are apparently many.

“You can’t separate the responsible adults from the irresponsible adults, and I don’t want my neighborhood, or my house or my family endangered because we have irresponsible people living next to us,” Greene said.

Alison Sands, of Ward Road in Windham Center, told councilors she had to call police recently because people in her apartment building were using fireworks and hit a nearby tree causing a small fire in the tree.

“And three weeks prior to that they hit an [electrical] transformer which blew it up, and we spent four hours without electricity in that area,” she said.

Sands added that she has to go to work early, “and we hear them at 11 p.m., 12 p.m., 1 a.m., and it’s just not feasible for people who work to have to listen to that.”

Bob Bittenbender, of Dutton Hill Road in East Windham, also had serious concerns. He spoke of a three-hour barrage last weekend that ended after midnight from someone lighting off fireworks almost a mile away.

“I feel that that’s way too much,” Bittenbender said. “I have a dog that’s terrified. I have neighbors that wonder about their horses … What happens if one of these fireworks displays gets out of control? We’ve been lucky, we’ve had a wet summer. And if the woods catch fire where I am in East Windham, it could be a real holocaust. So does the town of Windham have an insurance policy to cover what doesn’t get covered by homeowner’s insurance?”

While that question didn’t get a response from town officials, Bittenbender continued, this time firing back against one of the arguments Gov. Paul LePage used to reinstate Mainers’ ability to buy and use fireworks––its economic impact. Bittenbender said the estimated $500,000 in annual sales tax revenue, works out to 38 cents per Windham resident.

“If we are looking at this as an economic piece, I think it’s crazy,” Bittenbender concluded.

After getting the barrage of complaints from residents, Windham councilors promised action.

“We’re going to do what we can to alleviate the situation,” Chairman Scott Hayman said. “I will sit here and promise you that we will revisit the situation. We will revisit the ordinance and we will do our best to alleviate what you folks, what I go through, and what I’m sure everyone at this table goes through.”

Hayman, who voted against a local ban this spring but said if problems arose the council would revisit the issue, told the residents that he and his wife, who live 1,000 feet from Little Sebago Lake, lie awake at night due to fireworks across the lake.

“It is unfortunate there are irresponsible, disrespectful folks out there and those folks are going to spoil it for those that are responsible and respectful because they are going to force us to revisit it, and they are going to force us to enact an ordinance,” Hayman said.

Councilor Kevin Call, who earlier this year voted for a fireworks ban mainly due to safety concerns, wasn’t surprised by the residents’ appeal for help.

“I haven’t changed my view on fireworks. I didn’t vote for the ordinance to allow them in town and I feel even more strongly about it now,” Call said. “I totally agree with everyone who spoke here tonight, and hope we can look at this and come to some sort of conclusion on this.”

As with many of the residents who spoke, both Hayman and Call don’t want an outright ban but would like to limit it to the weekends around Independence Day and New Year’s Eve.

According to Tony Plante, Windham’s town manager, Windham police are responding to fireworks calls but no tickets were written during the recent Fourth of July holiday week, primarily because it’s difficult for police to nab violators in the act.

“One of the challenges is going to be determining who’s setting them off,” he said.

If local police and officials don’t help them, another resident, Jeff Lander, who owns horses on Dutton Hill Road who get spooked by the fireworks, predicted those fed up with the noisy late-night barrages may try to enforce the law themselves, or at least confront their neighbors.

“I’m afraid that if the town and police force can’t resolve the problem, probably those of us here in the room will talk with our neighbors and that could get ugly,” Lander said.

To that, one of the neighbors in the audience said, “We have and they swore to us. Good luck.”