WINDHAM – The Windham Town Council appears to be on its way to tightening the town’s rule related to consumer fireworks, after voting earlier this year to allow unrestricted sale and use of the newly legal products.

After failing to sway town councilors last year to ban the use of fireworks in Windham, Fire/Rescue Chief Charlie Hammond is encouraged with last week’s council discussion to revisit the issue in hopes of curbing irresponsible use.

Hammond, who says his department routinely responds to reports of fireworks-induced explosions throughout town, is dead-set against their use, citing fire hazards.

“I’m in favor of strengthening the regulations. I don’t know why they were changed in the first place,” Hammond said, referring to Gov. Paul LePage’s landmark state law that went into effect last Jan. 1. The law legalized certain fireworks in Maine by those 21 and older, but gives municipalities the choice to set restrictions up to and including an outright ban on the sale and use of the items.

When the Town Council declined to amend the state law last spring, the council said it would revisit the issue if problems arose. Councilor Kevin Call, who initially wanted stronger regulation, said no other issue has raised such hackles among his constituency.

“I have gotten more emails about this one particular issue than anything else, and no emails supporting the use of fireworks, all asking that they be either restricted or banned altogether,” Call said.

Hammond concurred about the anger and frustration fireworks has generated in residents who must deal with sometimes-nightly explosions from neighbors.

“Any move we make toward making or controlling the substances are an improvement, because I get the phone calls, and I refer them to the councilors,” Hammond said. “I’ve gotten letters, emails, and I’ve forwarded them to the town manager and the Town Council and said, you know what, people are not happy with this.”

No major fires have resulted from the use of fireworks in Windham so far, Hammond said. Most of the calls are reports of explosions.

“What we’ve had for calls is, ‘I’ve heard an explosion.’ Now, an explosion could be fireworks but we have to go investigate it. Sometimes we’ve found them and sometimes we haven’t. It’s a [hassle.] If it’s after 7 p.m., that means people have to come back from home and go out and do the job, at $12-20 an hour, plus vehicle expenses,” Hammond said of the expense involved with the false alarms. “Plus, when you get an explosion, you don’t send just one truck, because if it’s somebody’s house that’s blown up, you ought to have some equipment. When you get the call, it’s hard telling not knowing.”

Lt. David DeGruchy of the Windham Police Department said not only do fire units respond, but police are often on scene, as well. In October, police responded to seven calls that were fireworks-related. He said those calls tend to come in after 10 p.m.

“We don’t keep stats [on fireworks calls] but you would think in the summertime you’d get more because there’s more outdoor activity plus the retail shops are open, where they’re closed now and it’s not as easy to come by fireworks,” he said.

The Town Council wants to address the issue prior to next summer’s busy fireworks season. Each of the councilors seemed convinced additional regulation is needed but they differ on the level.

Councilor Scott Hayman, who has said fireworks routinely rain down over Little Sebago Lake when he and his family are trying to sleep, has changed his view on the issue.

“My stance from the beginning was let them go, and I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, unfortunately there’s irresponsible and disrespectful folks in our community that continue to misuse, and continue to misuse, and continue to misuse fireworks without consideration of their neighbors, their neighbors’ children or the neighbors’ pets. I have changed my point of view since voting to allow fireworks anytime, anyplace,” he said.

Council Chairman Matthew Noel seemed in favor of a stronger local ordinance, as well.

“Unfortunately, without any regulation it doesn’t seem to be working for many – not just a few, but many,” Noel said. “I’m also concerned an outright ban doesn’t necessarily work … it’s just too difficult to enforce and track that down when neighboring communities and towns will allow it. … But I think some means of regulation is necessary.”

Councilors Dennis Welch and Tommy Gleason seemed to favor allowing the fireworks on weekends and holidays while Call and Hayman favored even stronger regulation only allowing the fireworks to be shot off around the Fourth of July and New Year’s. Neither side was entrenched in their views and said they were open to more discussion.

Hayman suggested Town Manager Tony Plante and his staff work to come up with an ordinance that the council can review, a task Plante said would be easily accomplished with many towns in Maine adopting local ordinances.

“There are plenty of models out there for us to follow if we’re looking for different ways to look at holidays, weekends, times when people are more likely to be celebrating with the use of fireworks,” Plante said.

The road toward crafting an effective Windham ordinance could prove difficult, Call said.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds, because there’s a challenge enforcing this,” Call said. “We need to draft some sort of an ordinance that’s going to be enforceable and not too expensive for the town. I’m afraid it’s going to add quite a cost to try to enforce something that may not be enforceable. So we’ve got our plates full up here to come up with a workable ordinance.”