Horry County could ban fireworks on the beach. Here’s how the new law could work.
By the time you hit the beach for warm-weather activities next year, some fireworks may be universally banned.
That’s due, in part, to Horry County Council moving to create “no fireworks areas” on the stretches of beach it has control over. The cities, including Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach which also control large stretches of the beach, already prohibit certain fireworks.
The proposed Horry County ban would largely cover fireworks that launch off the ground, including professional displays typically seen on holidays as well as fireworks like bottle rockets and roman candles. Fireworks that remain on the ground, the proposed law says, will remain legal. Those include sparklers, cylindrical or cone fountains, wheel or ground spinners, illuminating torches, toy smoke devices, snakes and glow worms, trick noisemakers, toy pistol caps, party poppers and snappers. The law says such fireworks could become illegal if their use “rises to the level of nuisance activity.”
County Council members are moving forward on such a ban due to complaints from residents that some were igniting fireworks at “all hours of the day and night,” County Attorney Arrigo Carotti said.
“For a number of years there have been complaints that have come to me about people discharging fireworks at all hours of the day and night and bothering both residents of and visitors to the county, and what could the county do about that?” Carotti told council members Tuesday.
County Council member Bill Howard, whose district includes a stretch of beach, has also said he’s fielded complaints from residents about errant fireworks, and began the push for the ban several months ago.
The county’s ban would be a civil law, rather than a criminal law, due to how South Carolina’s constitution is structured. Violators would be subject to a $50 fine that doubles every 30 days until the fine is paid. Repeat offenders would be charged a $100 fine. The county will post signs notifying the public that fireworks are prohibited in certain areas, though Police Chief Joe Hill told council members the ban could be difficult to enforce.
“There are some challenges,” he said.
To put the ban in place, County Council members would have to request certain areas be deemed “no fireworks areas” and pass an ordinance for each area.
On Tuesday, council members agreed to move forward a ban on fireworks for the Arcadia Beach area which sits just North of Myrtle Beach. The ban would encompass “the entire area from the corner of Lake Arrowhead Road and Kings Road to the corner of King Road and Lands End Boulevard, extending from both intersections to the low water mark of the Atlantic Ocean,” according to the ordinance.
Currently, property owners with beach-front homes or land can apply to the county for a “fireworks prohibited zone.” The ban council is considering would expand such rules and make them easier to put in place and enforce.
Both the ordinance providing the framework for the ban and the specific ban for Arcadia Beach will have to pass three votes at County Council meetings in the coming weeks.
