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By Victor Kaisar

No Fireworks for NYE

No fireworks permits issued in Kamloops as City gears up for New Year’s festivities

Dec 31, 2024 | 9:46 AM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Fire Rescue is reminding people to ring in the New Year without the use of fireworks.

Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc says no permits that allow the sale or use of fireworks were issued in Kamloops for New Years’ Eve this year.

“We’ve got a lot of evidence across Canada and North America that consumer sale and use of fireworks are dangerous,” Uzeloc told CFJC Today. “They start a lot of fires, and people get a lot of injuries. Obviously, we allow high-level permitted fireworks by trained professionals but no one has applied for that permit leading up to New Year’s Eve.”

Those high-level permits would also apply to the City of Kamloops, which confirmed plans to bring back a firework show on Canada Day in 2025 after opting for a drone show this year.

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“[Fireworks shows] would still be open to anyone who wanted to do it, you would have to get a permit and you would have to use a professionally trained fireworks technician,” Uzeloc said. “That the difference.”

“The number of larger events with trained professional that use fireworks are negligible compared to the consumers that run out and buy them and don’t follow the recommendations and use them in places they’re not supposed to.”

He said KFR has seen a gradual decline in the number of people who light their own fireworks over the last few years, though he notes there are still instances where KFR has had to respond.

“Last year we had people shooting fireworks out of a car driving across the bridge,” Uzeloc said. “It’s just not a practice that we feel is safe.”

Uzeloc says people caught using fireworks in city limits without a permit this New Year’s Eve could be fined $250.

“If people think there is a fire or they see a fire start, phone 911 and KFR will respond and put the fire out and try to identify origin and cause,” Uzeloc said.

“If its people setting off fireworks illegally, then Community Services Officers will respond and try to identify the individuals and if they’re identified there will be tickets written for violating the bylaw.”

Uzeloc also says work to update the Fire Prevention Bylaw has been taking place over the past year. He said a component of that update will “eliminate the opportunity for the consumer sale and use of fireworks in Kamloops.”

The existing bylaw, which came into effect in 2013, allows the sale and use fireworks to happen for two weeks in a year, between Oct. 24 and Nov. 1 and again between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. While the Fire Chief is able to issue permits outside those two windows, those approvals could also be revoked for safety reasons.

Uzeloc told CFJC Today the bylaw amendments are expected to go before council for input and possible approval before March of next year.