New Year’s Eve won’t go out with a bang

Eron Ben-Yehuda

To kick off the new millennium with a bang, some nearby cities have

temporarily lifted their ban on fireworks, but Huntington Beach and

Fountain Valley refuse to budge.

That doesn’t make sense to Huntington Beach resident Don Erickson, 30,

who said the city should follow the lead of Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and

Stanton, which have authorized the sale of fireworks for this week only.

“What’s the harm?” he asked.

Plenty, warn city officials, who have kept a tight lid on pyrotechnics

for years. Huntington Beach stopped allowing fireworks sales in 1987.

Fountain Valley did the same a year later.

“We’re trying to ensure a safe and sane and injury-free holiday,” Fire

Marshal Duane Olson said.

Before the ban, firefighters couldn’t answer all the emergency calls for

help, City Councilman Tom Harman said.

Typically, someone would throw a sparkler on a wood-shingle roof, setting

off a blaze, Olson said. That danger is especially great this time of

year because so little rain has fallen, and the Santa Ana winds are

blowing away what little moisture remains, he said.

Besides property damage, injuries mounted as careless revelers lost

fingers or even their eyesight when a firecracker they mishandled

exploded, he said.

But resident Ernie Andrasik, 35, said a “few bad apples” shouldn’t spoil

the fun for everyone else. The ban is meaningless anyway, he said,

because locals can buy fireworks in another community and bring them

home.

But you’re caught with illegal fireworks in Fountain Valley, you will be

slapped with a citation and possible even arrested, police said.

Because this New Year’s holiday holds special significance, Huntington

Beach officials expect more carousing and more drinking. Adding fireworks

will only make matters worse, they said.

Resident Jeff Littlefield, 31, agreed.

“The police and the Fire Department will have enough to do that night,”

he said.

-- Angelique Flores contributed to this story.