ST. CHARLES, Mo (KMOV.com) -- Fireworks sparked nine fires in St. Charles over the Fourth of July holiday, three times as many as last year.
Because of that, the fire chief wants the city to consider a ban next year.
Chief Ernie Rhoads says, quite simply, fireworks are dangerous.
He says he understands that if everyone was very careful and followed instructions to the letter, the dangers would be a little less. But there would still be a risk.
So Rhoads says if he had his way, he’d like to get rid of fireworks altogether.
But the City of St. Charles says the proposed ban isn’t even being discussed.
News 4 spoke with council members Wednesday and they said it’s not even something they plan on talking about.
But that’s not stopping Rhoads from wishing they were gone.
“As a pro in the fire services and safety is very important to me. I think every fire chief in the U.S. in my opinion would say ‘yeah fireworks pose a bigger hazard to the community or a larger hazard to the community for the threat of fire’ and professionally I don’t like them.”
While other cities opted to cancel their fireworks displays this Fourth of July season, St. Charles went ahead with theirs. They say they just had to be especially careful because of the hot and dry weather.
