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Crime & Safety

Manassas Park Residents Urged to Celebrate Safely

Manassas Park Fire Marshal Mark Joyner urges residents to take proper precautions using fireworks and avoid buying and using illegal ones.

Fireworks have become a symbol of celebration during major holidays in the United States, but can be dangerous if not used properly and especially if they’re illegal, according to Manassas Park Fire Marshal Mark Joyner.

Any firework that emits a flame, explodes, moves under its own power more than 12 feet, or acts as a projectile is illegal in Manassas Park, according to Manassas Park’s Fire Prevention Code.

The rules are the same in Prince William County and the city of Manassas.

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Illegal fireworks can be confiscated and possession of them is a Class I misdemeanor in Virginia. Penalities include fines up to $2,500 and a year in prison.

“On the Fourth of July, they’re going to be everywhere, legal and not,” Joyner said. “I want the ones using illegal fireworks to understand that you will be very accountable if injury or property damage occurs.”

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Joyner hasn’t seen the illegal sale of fireworks in the six years he’s been in Manassas Park, but said that people mail order them from states where those fireworks are legal. 

Joyner said he would confiscate illegal fireworks from people without writing a citation if they were not detonated and the owners didn’t realize they were illegal, but he would give out citations to those who use them.

"We all follow the same laws when it comes to fireworks,” Joyner said. “There’s always the theme of, ‘you light them, we write them’ [criminal citations].”

Legal fireworks are sold in Manassas Park and around Prince William County by vendors who have been pre-approved and licensed by Joyner and other fire marshals.

Joyner said he has a good working relationship with Paramount Productions, the company that sells fireworks in Manassas Park.“We don’t want to scare a consumer from buying a legal firework,” Joyner said. “ (What) we want is you to buy consumer fireworks which are from permitted booths. All of their inventory has been screened. We know what they have; we test them to make sure they meet the criteria.” All legal vendors display the permit.

"The ones that they’re selling out of someone’s trunk, that’s shady,” Joyner said. “At that point, you don’t really know what you’re getting.” Joyner said the safest thing to do is to not allow the sale of fireworks at all, but he doesn't want put an outright ban in place.

“It is Fourth of July. We don’t like to be the ‘fun police,’ if you will,” Joyner said. For people who choose to buy fireworks, Joyner said that a responsible adult should always be present, fireworks should always be lighted on a flat surface and never thrown or held when ignited.

A firework should never be lit a second time if it doesn't function properly on the first lighting, he added. If a firework malfunctions, it should be doused in a bucket of water, which should be present in case of emergency.

“The biggest thing is, always have a responsible adult present. Only have the adults ignite the fireworks,” Joyner said. “Statistically, two of five people injured by fireworks were young people under the age of 15.”

About 8,600 people are injured annually by fireworks, according to the 2010 report on fireworks by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sixty-five percent of those were male.

Joyner also recommended that people attend the annual fireworks show in Signal Hill Park at 7 p.m. Monday instead of buying their own fireworks.“Come out and sit on the hill,” Joyner said. “It’s an absolute dynamite viewing area; it’s a terrific public display.”

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