HELENA — The celebrations of Independence Day are now behind us, MTN spoke with the Helena Police Department on how the Fourth of July, and the weekend leading up to the holiday, went for the City of Helena.
Fireworks are allowed on private property in the county but are banned in the City of Helena proper.
"The dangers that come along with lighting, fireworks. There's a bigger picture here to look at, and that could be that, you know, you intentionally are lighting a firework, which is illegal to begin with, and as a result, now you've caused some serious property damage or serious injury to somebody," said Lt. Jayson Zander from the Helena Police Department.
Even with the city ordinance in effect, some could hear the sizzles, cracks, pops, and booms on many neighborhood streets over the weekend and through the holiday.
"From July 1st, through the evening of the fourth, we had a total of 30 firework complaints within the city limits. Of those complaints, one citation was issued for, it was to a juvenile for throwing fireworks from a motor vehicle," said Zander.
Police say one incident resulted in damage.
"We also had one complaint on a firework where it caused damage to a window, where the device itself actually hit the window and broke a window," said Zander.
No one was injured in the incident.
Zander says that the ordinance prohibiting fireworks is there for a reason, and should be respected like any other law.
"Well, we certainly don't want to discourage people to celebrate Independence Day," said Zander, "You just kind of do it in appropriate location, and that's not inside the city limits."
