Wichita just updated its fireworks ordinance. Here’s what’s legal, illegal this year
Update, May 21: The City Council approved changes to Wichita’s fireworks laws by a 6-0 vote. Vice Mayor Maggie Ballard was absent from the meeting.
This year, it’s legal to purchase aerial fireworks within city limits but Wichitans will have a smaller window of time to shoot them off. Last year, aerial fireworks were permitted from July 1-5. This year, they’ll be permitted 10 a.m. to midnight from Wednesday, July 3 to Friday, July 5.
That wording technically permits the shooting of aerial fireworks up until midnight on July 5, but a city spokesperson told The Eagle the intent is to allow them throughout Friday. The council did not amend the fireworks proposal to clarify.
Changes were approved with the understanding that language would be added on the ordinance’s second reading specifically prohibiting the selling and shooting of 1.4 Pro Line fireworks after two fireworks vendors addressed the council on their concerns about a loophole that allows consumers to purchase professional-grade fireworks in many states, including Kansas.
“It is literally professional-grade products that are made to be shot by people with shows, licensing and everything else. The issue comes in, there is no rule for professional fireworks shooter, so what’s happening is people have created a website, you go take a 30-minute class, and they give you a piece of paper that you print off that says you are now a professional,” Jacob Marietta, operations manager at Wholesale Fireworks in Andover said.
Original story, May 18: Wichita fireworks enthusiasts won’t have to drive outside the city limits to buy aerial fireworks for Independence Day if the City Council adopts proposed changes to the fireworks ordinance on Tuesday.
The City Council rolled back decades-long restrictions on the use of aerial fireworks for Fourth of July celebrations in Wichita last year. But the sale of those fireworks — which include any consumer-grade firework that shoots flaming balls into the air such as cake or mortar shells — remained outlawed inside the city limits.
On Tuesday, the council will decide whether to allow the sale of aerial fireworks in Kansas’ largest city along with the dates and times they would be allowed.
Under this year’s proposal, fireworks would go on sale in Wichita at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 27.
Last year, they were allowed 10 a.m. to midnight from Saturday, July 1 to Wednesday, July 5. Under the proposed ordinance change, they would be allowed 10 a.m. to midnight from Wednesday, July 3 to Friday, July 5.
The use of “safe and sane” fireworks — any consumer firework that does not leave the ground when ignited, including firecrackers — would be allowed from 10 a.m. June 27 through midnight on July 5. They’ll only be allowed between the hours of 10 a.m. and midnight.
Technically, that means residents could use fireworks until 12 a.m. on July 5, prohibiting the use of fireworks throughout the day on Friday, July 5.
A city spokesperson said the intent of the ordinance is to allow residents to use fireworks throughout the day, evening and night on July 5. That would require a tweak of the proposed city ordinance to read either 11:59 p.m. on July 5 or midnight on July 6.
Prior to last year’s changes, any firework that shot higher than 6 feet was banned in the city limits.
Bottlerockets and sky lanterns remain illegal in Wichita.
Along with the proposed changes, the city would add language to its firework ordinance to match what is already illegal under state law — including a ban on igniting fireworks from bicycles, motorcycles, electric scooters, cars or trucks or other motor vehicles.
Any person convicted of violating the ordinance could be charged with a misdemeanor crime and fined $1,000 for a first offense, $1,500 for a second offense and $2,000 for any subsequent offenses.
The city issued about $7,000 in fireworks-related tickets in 2023.
Wichita area hospitals treated 39 people for fireworks related injuries last years, and the Wichita Fire Department responded to four structure fires attributed directly to fireworks and 67 fireworks related calls while the city received 1,046 calls to its fireworks complaint hotline, according to the city. Those represented declines or similar numbers to the past five-year average.
Contributing: Matthew Kelly of The Eagle
