BUTTE - It’s fireworks season in Butte and sales have been booming.
“This year we’ve been doing awesome; yeah, it’s been a great year so far,” said Joe Quinn, the co-owner of Jerry’s Fireworks in Butte.
With increased fireworks sales, police are receiving more noise complaints from residents. Police are asking the public to be considerate when using fireworks.
“We try to be pretty lenient until about 10:30, and then we ask people to stop until the next day,” said Butte Sheriff Ed Lester.
Fireworks stand operators are finding customers spending up to $500 on fireworks in one visit. Some believe the COVID-19 quarantine has people more eager to enjoy fireworks this year.
“You know, geez, we spent a month, month and a half indoors, everybody was under stress and stuff, so I think it does alleviate some stress, you know, go off and shoot some fireworks and try to get back to normal a little bit,” said Quinn.
And unlike small fireworks, folks in Butte are buying the kind with little more firepower.
“Fireworks are kind of getting bigger and bigger. These are all 500-gram fireworks and they have big booms,” said Quinn.
Lester said his department is investigating a serious incident Sunday evening in Butte involving a sparkler bomb, where fireworks were manipulated to make a larger explosion. The practice is illegal and very dangerous.
