FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — In just a matter of days, the state of Ohio will be handed a fuse it has always wanted to light.
“We’re buying a lot of fireworks,” Aaron Myers said.
Myers lives in Lewis Center. Tuesday, he and a couple of friends were at Phantom Fireworks in Licking County.
He says all the neighbors where he lives pitched in to go all out now that “oohs and aahs” will soon be legal.
“Knowing you can’t buy them because where are you going to let them off…we don’t want to do it illegally,” he said. “So, now, finally, after years and years we can do it and we’re super excited about it.”
Phantom Fireworks saw a steady stream of customers, Tuesday, as Ohioans prepare to light up the sky on July 4.
“Often times we see that things that are legal don’t always equate to being safe,” Major Steven Tucker said.
Tuesday, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office set up a demonstration at its office on North Hague Avenue to show a healthy dose of common sense and common safety.
Deputies rigged a watermelon with two grams of net explosive weight, before setting off a controlled explosion.
The sheriff’s office did it to hopefully make people think twice about how dangerous fireworks can be.
“I think if we apply some really common-sense measures to handling these fireworks and understanding the potential danger, I think people will be in a much better place,” Tucker said.
As of July 1, Ohioans can set off up to 500 grams of net explosive weight. The law also says spectators have to be 150 feet away from a discharge and no one under the age of 18 can handle fireworks.
Also, the law calls for no drugs or alcohol to be consumed while discharging fireworks and that no fireworks are to be set off after 11 p.m.
Myers says even though this law has been a long time coming, lighting this legal fuse is still worth the care and attention it deserves.
“Yeah, we’re taking our time with it,” he said. “Nothing to be doing hastily. Be slow, in control.”