TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — On Tuesday, Treasure Island city leaders announced a change in public awareness and enforcement of existing ordinances to curb the use of personal fireworks for the July 4th holiday.
Police and firefighters will be cracking down on personal fireworks set off on the beach and the city while local groups like Treasure Island Adopt-a-Beach will host a messaging campaign informing people of the stepped-up enforcement.
The size and number of fireworks set off on the beach in recent years pushed leaders to take action.
Last year, Mayor Tyler Payne was at the beach on July 4th with his husband and a friend and was uncomfortable with the large ordnance being fired off by party-goers.
“Full-on mortars going into the air, full-on fireworks,” he says, confirmed in videos he shared with 10 Tampa Bay. “I think it's really just snowballed. I've been out there the last couple years and seen it progressively get worse and worse.”
A couple of months ago, he started working on a plan spurred by local beach cleanup organizer, Carrie Auerbach, to address worries over safety and the environment.
“Mortars were whizzing by, live shrapnel falling on my head,” Auerbach says. “I stopped going because I was afraid for my life, actually.”
Tuesday night, the city commission announced a new targeted awareness and enforcement effort of local laws already on the books, including one that requires people to leave no trace when they leave, something the mayor says is impossible with fireworks.
Other ordinances that will be more strictly enforced prohibit open flames on the beach and bright lights around nesting and endangered loggerhead sea turtles. Violations mean fines close to $100.
“It's insane how much small particles [fireworks] leave behind on the beach,” Payne says.
Leaders say it’s not just about protecting families. It's also about protecting sea turtles nesting up and down Treasure Island.
“A mother turtle will turn around and not lay her eggs and possibly get rid of her eggs in the water,” says Auerbach.
Auerbach wanted an outright ban. She thinks more enforcement will help. While a ban was discussed, ambiguity over its legality with personal use of fireworks allowed in state law, as well as a desire not to create new ordinances if it’s not necessary, led the city attorney and commission to go the enforcement route.
The city’s sponsored fireworks show is still scheduled as planned.
“Come to the beach, have fun,” says Auerbach. “Watch our fireworks. The city puts on a great show. Just leave your fireworks at home and blow them off in your own backyard, not ours.”
It's important to note, there are only a few times a year it’s legal to use fireworks. Florida law only allows personal fireworks on three holidays -- the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
People who light them off outside of the legal dates could face a misdemeanor.