BILLINGS — Fireworks continued to be shot off across the Billings skyline last Friday on the Fourth of July, leading to confusion on the rules on when and where they're allowed.
In an interview with MTN News, Public Relations Sgt. Jeff Stovall with the Billings Police Department cleared the air.
Hear Jeff Stovall explain who they're trying to protect from fireworks:
"Within the city limits, anything that is an explosive or combustible substance is illegal. So that's anything from sparklers, to Roman candles, to your fountains and all that stuff. That's all illegal within the city limits," said Stovall.
Stovall explained that anyone caught lighting fireworks in the city may receive a citation, which could include a court date and a fine. Stovall estimated a range of $250-$1,000 for fines.
According to Stovall, Billings police typically have about 50 calls more than an average day on the Fouth of July and cited several people this year.
"We actually had less firework calls this year than we did last year during the same time period that we looked at. It's not a huge difference, but we had 171 calls this year as opposed to 178 last year," said Stovall.
Stovall said that the Billings police prioritize certain calls and that officers go to other calls before fireworks.
"Our calls are prioritized by the safety of people and things like that. So your physical disturbances, domestic violence situations, homicides, injury crashes, those types of things, those are going to take priority over fireworks," stated Stovall.
A woman, identified Tuesday as 37-year-old Kari Daily, was murdered in Billings on the Fourth of July this year, and many police officers were on the scene.
"We obviously had the homicide, which took up 17 of our officers. So that's basically two shifts minimum for us. We have a minimum of nine officers per shift. So you take 17 of those, some of our noon shifters got called in early," explained Stovall.
Stovall stressed that police aren't there to ruin the enjoyment of the holiday celebrations, but must ensure safety and enforce the law.
"We're in the business of keeping people safe and that's what our ultimate goal is doing, educating people, letting them know why we're not allowing fireworks," said Stovall.
