City Commissioners, by consensus, directed city staff to move forward with drafting a resolution to send a question to the ballot to revise the city’s fireworks ordinance.

They made that general direction, though at least two commissioners do not support sending the question to the ballot, during a special work session on July 22.

Commissioners will meet again in a special meeting on July 29 to set a public hearing for their regular Aug. 5 meeting on the resolution.

At the Aug. 5 meeting, commissioners will be asked to vote on a resolution sending the question of fireworks to the ballot.

They have not yet voted to do so.

Commissioners considering fireworks rule change; no action yet taken

They have decided to pursue consideration of changing the definition of permissible fireworks to prohibit “fireworks designed to leave the ground, such as sky rockets, shells, cakes, missiles, roman candles, and bottle rockets; and fireworks that explode, such as salutes and firecrackers,” according to the city staff report.

Permitted fireworks would include sparklers, fountains, ground spinners, snap caps, smoke devices, and novelty items.

The proposed ordinance change would continue to permit professional fireworks displays.

There was some discussion about having first and second readings on an ordinance.

Sending a question to the ballot requires a resolution that doesn’t take first and second readings, but the commission does have to properly set a public hearing with enough time for the required public notices.

The resolution must be approved by 85 days before the election, which in this case, that deadline is Aug. 11 for the Nov. 5 municipal election.

City officials to discuss changes to fireworks rules on July 15

Commissioners can vote on the ordinance language, including a new fine structure for violations after the resolution sending a question to the ballot but before the election.

The city has followed a similar process over the last decade for sending the question of whether marijuana or chickens should be permitted in the city limits.

Commissioners listened to about an hour of public comment during the July 22 work session, some in favor of banning personal fireworks completely in the city limits, some for restricting their use to July 4 only and some in support of leaving the rules as is.

Those for further limitations said the noise, debris and safety hazards were reason to restrict the use of fireworks since pets were scared, veterans and others with PTSD were affected, they can’t sleep and risk damage to their property.

Fatal fire believed to be caused by fireworks

Several associated with fireworks sellers in the community said it’s a significant source of their income, supports nonprofit groups, represents freedoms, celebrates the birth of the nation and banning the use of fireworks wouldn’t stop people from using them.

Roughly 40 people attended the July 22 work session. Commissioners received 35 pages of written public comment by the morning of the meeting, with about half being identical signed by different people through a template in opposition to banning fireworks.

City Commissioners largely maintained the positions they had during their July 15 work session with Commissioner Rick Tryon leading the push for action and that the question should go to the ballot; Commissioner Susan Wolff remained steadfast in her opinion that the commission was elected to make decisions and should do so on this issue rather than sending it to the ballot; Commissioner Shannon Wilson said that she’d like to see it go to the ballot and selected the option to limit permissible fireworks; Commissioner Joe McKenney said they were rushing the decision and commissioners should make the hard decisions they were elected to make rather than sending it to the ballot, the same position he had in January when Mayor Cory Reeves asked if they could put fireworks on the ballot; Mayor Cory Reeves said he was against banning fireworks until police and fire said they could enforce the rules and would otherwise prefer the question go to the ballot.

If the question goes to the ballot and fails, the existing ordinance regulating fireworks remains in place.

The estimated cost to the city for the November 2025 municipal election is $66,704.67, including the addition of the fireworks question, according to the county elections office.

Terry Thompson, county election administrator, said that the estimated costs are based on the number of active voters eligible to vote in city elections, plus 10 percent of the current inactive voters. 

Legal notice and miscellaneous charges in the estimated were based on the most recent school election and there were two items quoted that may change and/or be removed from the actual billing for the municipal election, Thompson said.

Adding the fireworks question to the November ballot is a minimal cost, Thompson told The Electric, but if the city commission were to send the question to a school, primary or special election, the city would be responsible for a percentage of the total costs.

History of fireworks regulations in Great Falls

[READ: current city code pertaining to fireworks]

State law pertaining to fireworks from 1985-1992 that allowed consumer/common fireworks as defined in federal law, except for aerial fireworks, according to city records.

City code banned fireworks before 1992 but the ban wasn’t enforced, according to the city.

In 1992, a working group was formed to discuss and develop a plan for fireworks regulation in the city.

“At the time, it was observed that enforcement was difficult due to the following: 1) fireworks are sold in the county, which are not legal in the city; illegal use of fireworks within city was common; difficulty in identifying violators; many violators are juveniles; difficulty in educating the public and enforcement personnel as to which fireworks are legal/illegal,” according to the city.

GFFR reminding residents of fireworks rules, safety

Those were the same challenges discussed during the city meetings so far this month regarding fireworks regulations.

The working group developed a “somewhat complicated ordinance identifying legal and illegal fireworks. The ordinance was fairly restrictive, prohibiting exploding and aerial fireworks (which were likely already banned under state law),” according to the city.

Commissioners initially rejected most of the ordinance, striking most of the provisions, but kept a five day limitation for the use and sale of fireworks in the city.

Later in 1994, commissioner amended the ordinance, incorporating the provisions they’d previously rejected.

In 2007, commissioner revised the 1994 ordinance to allow any fireworks that were permissible under state law, which at the time prohibited sky rockets, Roman candles and bottle rockets, and reduced the permitted time frame to three days in July, established a fine structure, and a permit and fee requirement for fireworks sellers, according to the city.

Those rules have largely remained in place.

In 2016, Bob Kelly, former mayor, held a town hall on fireworks.

About 60 people attended and were split roughly down the middle about keeping the rules as is or restricting fireworks further.

Resident asks city to consider banning fireworks within city limits [2018]

No change was made to the current city ordinance restrictions on the dates that fireworks are allowed to be sold and used.

The commission made minor code changes related to fireworks in 2017, raising the age to 10 for those requiring parental supervision to discharge fireworks.

The commission also added a provision, at the suggestion of former Commissioner Bill Bronson, allowing the city manager, after consultation with the fire chief, to issue an emergency declaration banning the use of fireworks during the normal allowable times if weather conditions such as high winds, drought or extreme heat, pose a danger to public safety.

In 2021, the Montana Legislature eliminated its prohibition on aerial fireworks in an effort to be consistent with federal law, though the use of fireworks is prohibited on federal property, including national parks, national forests, military installations, post offices, etc. and in Washington, D.C.. In D.C. fireworks violation fines start at $2,000.

Since permissible fireworks in city code was tied to state law, that made aerial fireworks legal in the city, beginning in 2021.

Foundation fundraising to continue community fireworks display

Missoula, Kalispell, Helena, Bozeman and Billings ban fireworks within the city limits.

Fireworks are allowed, with few restrictions, in Cascade County and are governed by state law.

Community discussion of fireworks

During the July 22 work session, members of the public and fireworks vendors shared their opinions about fireworks.

Joan Wright said her neighborhood sounds like a “war zone” around July 4 and it’s especially disturbing to veterans and pets.

She said she can’t sleep, often has to clean up debris on her property and asked commissioners to ban fireworks in the city limits.

Ron Paulick said the commission was rushing the decision to meet the ballot deadlines and asked how a ban would be enforced and how the city would address the concerns of the losing side.

Larry Stimac, said the city was setting itself up for problems such as California fires started by a spark,

With Great Falls winds and bottle rockets, “we’re gonna have fires hopping for roof to roof. We’re gonna have a disaster in our city.”

GFFR responded to seven fireworks calls on July 4 [2023]

Lee Vandeberg said he had a question, which was whether meth was illegal in the city.

He said it’s illegal, right, and “we don’t have a meth problem because bans work.”

He asked commissioners not to take freedoms away because of the actions of a few bad apples.

He said he’s from North Carolina and they light fireworks there to celebrate.

According to North Carolina statute, aerial fireworks, bottle rockets, firecrackers, fireworks that spin on the ground and Roman candles are prohibited in the state.

Gerry Jennings said that listening to the reasonings for allowing fireworks, the city should allow other destructive activities.

She said a majority of residents don’t want fireworks.

Cascade County implements Stage 1 fire restrictions; fireworks calls up in city [2021]

About 20 years ago, she said she and her husband were visiting their son in New York when they got a call that their house was on fire.

Of fireworks, she said, “these things go on for days.”

The city puts on a beautiful public display, funded by the Peoples Park and Recreation Foundation through donations, and “it doesn’t have to be in your yard. Folks it’s not right.”

Destri Hilbig, said she’d spent a few days in Missoula recently and they also struggle with enforcement, surrounding county land and residents travel to reservations to purchase fireworks and get no safety instructions.

She said the community could do more education, but “bad eggs are going to be bad eggs.”

Hiblig said during the July 22 meeting that she had a family member “high up” in Missoula law enforcement.

She said that he’d told her they had about 400 fireworks complaints, responded to four and issued no citations.

The Missoula Police chief  provided information to GFPD Chief Jeff Newton, for the purposes of the commission discussion, information with their most recent fireworks calls.

Fireworks complaints up this year [2020]

The Missoula chief said that police incidents on July 4 only for 2024 were 23 and for 2025 were 30.

The police incidents for the first full weekend of the month were six from July 5-7, 2024 and 30 for July 3-5, 2025.

Tony Peres said that the decision should be on a ballot and not made by the commission.

One man said much of his income was generated by fireworks sales and that he personally worked with Bob Kelly during his term as mayor on a compromise to change the fireworks rules.

Kelly was Great Falls’ longest serving mayor and served from 2016-2023

No significant changes to the fireworks code were made during that time, or Kelly’s earlier time as a commissioner, and the dates and times during which fireworks were legal remained unchanged.

Commission, staff discussion on options

City Manager Grey Doyon said staff had presented some options to commissioners as a starting point, but they could craft other options.

In a July 8 email and memo, Doyon provided an overview of the commission’s options and challenges in addressing fireworks.

That information wasn’t included in the July 15 work session materials, but was included in the packed for the special July 22 meeting.

In his email to commissioners, Doyon wrote that he asked his “assistant,” or ChatGPT, to provide a deep overview and history regarding fireworks in GF,” and included the report. “Remember, this tool is not perfect, but it provides a solid summary with viewable citations. I think the summary will be helpful to tee-up conversion on the topic.”

The 14-page document includes 75 citations, of which 53 are The Electric.

Mayor Cory Reeves said they first needed to decide if they wanted to send the question to the ballot or enact an ordinance themselves.

He said they needed to give clear direction about what path they wanted to take.

Commissioner Rick Tryon said it seemed to him they done that during their last meeting, asking staff to look at option to put the question on the ballot.

Commissioner Susan Wolff said she wished all commission meetings were as well attended and wish the public paid the same level attention to more city issues.

She said she was not in favor of putting the question on the ballot and it was something the commission should take time to figure out and enact an ordinance themselves addressing the concerns.

Commissioner Joe McKenney said he was also opposed to putting the question on the ballot.

He said he campaigned so people could get to know him and his positions and now that he’s elected, his job “isn’t to avoid controversy. If we send every controversy to the ballot, why do I even need to be here? The voters trust us to responsibly govern and use our judgment on their behalf. That’s why we were elected. We’re expected to lead, not punt controversial calls” to a public vote. 

McKenney, who is on the November ballot seeking a second commission term, said, “I won’t pass the buck because it’s politically safer to dodge the bullet. It’s our decision to make.”

Reeves said he disagreed and didn’t think it was kicking the can to voters.

“Without a public vote, I think we’re overstepping a longstanding tradition in our community,” Reeves said. 

If left to a commission decision, he said he wouldn’t support a ban.

Commissioner Shannon Wilson said “it’s the chicken thing again.”

Chickens remain prohibited in city limit, no petitions filed to send chickens back to ballot

She said there’s strong feelings on both sides but she heard from both sides that they’d prefer the question on the ballot.

Wilson said she preferred the third of the staff drafted option, which outlaw aerial fireworks.

She said it would be a shame to ban the ground-based fountain fireworks, “but the rockets that go up and leave your space are wrong. I realize that enforcement is tough, but we gotta do something.”

Tryon said he agrees that commissioners have an obligation and responsibility to make decisions but that the fireworks decision was unique and “nobody ran on fireworks.”

Tryon said he was upset by misinformation in the community that the elderly woman killed in a house fire July 2 had run into the burning house and so some had said her death was her own fault.

Chickens headed to November ballot, along with charter updates [2017]

He asked the fire and police chiefs to give updates on the investigation so that maybe the media would help clear it up.

The Electric reported those details here and here.

Great Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jeremy Jones said that the cause of the fire was determined to be fireworks, though accidental, and that the woman did not enter the burning house, but was inside the house when the fire started.

Great Falls Police Chief Jeff Newton said that they work with GFFR investigators in suspicious fires, but didn’t have probable cause to charge anyone for the fire or resulting fatality.

Tryon said he’d heard fireworks vendors say that a ban wouldn’t affect their sales, “so then what difference does it make?”

Wolff said she still prefers a ban, to be enacted through a commission voted ordinance.

She said there was a lot of talk of freedoms during the discussion, but “who’s freedoms are we talking about?”

“The woman who lost her life, did she have the right and freedom to live? Do people have the freedom to not have their houses or their property damaged,” she said. “Where are my freedoms?”

She asked why they thought sending the question to the ballot would make a difference if people are choosing not to follow the law, which was already the case.

Tryon said, “nobody thinks that restricting fireworks is going to stop fireworks,” and the point of putting the question on the ballot was to let the people decide.

He said there’s a case to be made for restricting fireworks being set off in residential neighborhoods, but it’s “not for me to say or for you to say, that’s for voters to say.”

McKenney said, “I think it’s a major mistake. I think we’re rushing it..”

Wilson said the commission had been looking at the fireworks issues since the 1990s so it wasn’t being rushed.

Enforcement

GFFR and GFPD officials gathered information from their counterparts in other Montana communities regarding fireworks.

Many said they have problems with enforcement and people disregard the rules.

“They’re not gonna go away,” McKenney said of fireworks, with legal sales on county parcels.

Whatever the decision is, Tryon said, some will have to adjust how they think about fireworks and one of the biggest adjustments will be how the rules are enforced.

Even if voters don’t approve the ordinance change restricting the aerial fireworks, Tryon said the city will still need to have a conversation about enforcement.

Reeves said that if the proposed restrictions were passed, the city was putting an ordinance on the books that “does nothing.”

GFFR Chief Jeremy Jones said that fire and police were tasked with providing information to commissioners to assist in their decision.

Jones said that in speaking with his colleagues around the state, enforcement is challenging.

He said GFFR overstaffs around July 4 to be reactive to fireworks and they got lucky this year with the thunderstorm and rains on the evening of July 4.

Conditions change year to year and the drier years are typically busier.

He said that GFFR will ask for targeted enforcement.

City votes to send marijuana question to the November ballot [2022]

In a document prepared for commissioners regarding enforcement costs, Jones said that during the times fireworks are permitted in the city in July and for New Year’s Eve, he recommends hiring back four personnel for proactive shifts from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. during those windows.

“This would consist of two firefighters per patrol vehicle, with one vehicle operating on each side of the river. These teams would focus on proactive patrols as well as responding to dispatch calls related to fireworks violations,” Jones wrote.

Fewer calls over this July 4 holiday than previous years; open burning remains prohibited in Cascade County [2017]

That equates to 15 days at eight hour shifts per vehicle, using two patrol vehicles. At an average overtime hourly rate of $57.21, the estimated total cost for this targeted enforcement is $27,460.80.

“This approach would allow us to enforce a potential fireworks ban effectively or to proactively enforce the current city ordinance, enhancing public safety during high-risk periods,” Jones wrote.

Jones told The Electric that there was some discussion of pairing GFFR and GFPD personnel for targeted fireworks enforcement, but no decisions had been made.

Jones said in talking with his counterparts across Montana that he’d recommend setting a fine that has an impact to potentially curb bad actors.

He’s recommended a $500 fine for a first offense, $1,000 for a second offense and $1,500 for third offenses.

Any fines collected on fireworks citations would go to the city’s general fund.

GFPD Chief Jeff Newton said that while police and fire work together, their missions are different.

He said the majority of their calls over the July 4 holiday were for other issues and fireworks are a lower priority.

GFPD overstaffs for the days around July 4 and New Year’s Eve.

“I have to be a realist, there’d have to be some strategic decisions,” he said and they can work to mitigate fireworks and can’t eliminate the issue entirely, “but it will take significant cost and staffing to do so.”

In his recommendation to the commission for targeted fireworks enforcement, Newton wrote that GFPD would have four officers on overtime, working six hour shifts each day, “with the primary focus of preventative enforcement and responding to fireworks calls for service.”

The actual start and stop times for those shifts would depend on the level of calls for service and under the current labor agreement, the total cost for that overtime would be $25,708.

That number would likely increase as the police union is currently negotiating a new labor contract with the city, as if the firefighter union.

Reeves said he’d rather see those costs going toward DUI enforcement or something else.