GREENVILLE, S.C. — It’s a busy time of year for many firework businesses, but North Carolina laws have many people driving to South Carolina for all their firework supplies, according to WLOS.
Kerry Dearmond, the owner of Charlie’s Fireworks in Greenville, South Carolina said demand has been so high for fireworks on the Fourth of July weekend that last year he ran out of supplies.
Dearmond told WLOS that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of people to start creating their own firework shows from home.
Dearmond stocked up ahead of time this year after anticipating supply chain issues. He wanted to have fireworks left to sell for those last-minute shoppers on July 4.
“Last year, we found that more and more started doing it at home, and they like it so they’re coming back,” Dearmond said. “We sold out at noon on the 3rd last year.”
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Dearmond said most of them actually come from North Carolina.
“Probably 90% of our business comes out of North Carolina.”
In North Carolina, the only pyrotechnics allowed in the state are sparklers or fireworks that do not detonate or explode and do not leave the ground.
The owner of a TNT fireworks stand in Asheville, John Bubacz, said the law limits what he can sell.
“Here in North Carolina, we can’t sell anything that shoots in the air, and we can’t sell anything that explodes. But we have lots of sparklers, and we have things that crackle,” Bubacz said.
A permit is needed to shoot off any other firework that explodes in the air in North Carolina.
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According to the fire and life safety educator for the Asheville Fire Department, Jeremy Brooks, violating the North Carolina firework laws is punishable by up to a $500 fine and is a misdemeanor crime.
Brooks said the dangers of pyrotechnics are the reason for these laws.
“Everything that would leave the ground, you have the hazard of it falling and starting a fire wherever it would fall, either in the woods or on a house,” Brooks said. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt. Burns are the No. 1 cause of treatment on the Fourth of July.”
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