Mortar fireworks ban in Camas now includes possession

Two weeks after voting 4-3 in favor of a mortar fireworks ban, Camas officials have added the word “possession” to the ordinance, effectively banning Camas residents from possessing aerial fireworks with reloadable tubes that are more commonly referred to as “mortars.”

The Camas City Council members voted 4-2 in favor of adding “possession” to the mortar ban during their regular meeting held Monday, Sept. 16. Councilmember Tim Hein was absent and Councilmembers Leslie Lewallen and Jennifer Senescu also voted against the original mortar ban on Sept. 3, following a two-hour public hearing that drew nearly 20 comments from members of the public on both sides of the personal fireworks debate.

The new ordinance, which now bans the possession, sale, purchase and discharge of mortars, will not go into effect for one year and will not impact the two holidays when Camas residents are legally able to discharge personal fireworks — New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July — until Dec. 31, 2025, and July 4, 2026.

Hein, who worked on the Council’s fireworks subcommittee with Councilmember John Nohr and former Councilmember Don Chaney, said earlier this year that the issue of personal fireworks is one of the biggest topics among his constituents and that the mortar ban, which bans aerial shell kits with reloadable tubes, but does not include a ban on other aerial fireworks such as “cakes” or “Roman candles,” was a compromise on the Council’s part.

The fireworks subcommittee, Hein said during the Sept. 3 public hearing, “tried to understand what both sides want.”

“The legislation this evening is an attempt to compromise and maybe tone it down a bit,” Hein said. “This ordinance will only be as good as everyone in the community believes it to be.”

The Council has heard from hundreds of Camas citizens over the past few years — through its online outreach on the City’s Engage Camas website as well as during in-person Council meetings and workshops — about the City’s rules regarding personal fireworks.

Community members who urged Council members to vote against the ban pointed to state laws that allow a wide range of personal fireworks to be sold, purchased and discharged during the New Year’s and July Fourth holiday seasons. They argued that allowing personal fireworks in Camas is a tradition enjoyed by many neighborhood groups and something that helps local high schools continue to host alcohol- and drug-free end-of-the-year parties for graduating seniors thanks to the annual $5,000 donations from Mean Gene Fireworks stands.

Supporters of the mortar ban have said they believe the safety, fire and environmental risks of allowing personal fireworks — not to mention the trauma the loudest fireworks cause for pets, wildlife and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — overshadow any benefits.

“It’s like a war zone on top of Prune Hill on the Fourth of July,” one person who spoke in favor of the mortar ban told Council members during the Sept. 3 public hearing. “We dread the holiday and would leave, but are worried our house or landscaping could be set on fire. As a Humane Society volunteer, I have seen lost and terrorized dogs that arrive every year. … It is time to stop this nonsense. Cities need to consider public options like drone displays that are gentler.”

Earlier this summer, during the Council’s June 17 workshop, Councilmember Leslie Lewallen, who voted against the ban as well as the addition of the word “possession” to the ordinance, said she was against any ordinance that would ban the ability to sell, purchase or possess mortars and argued that the Council should hold a public hearing to ban just the discharge of such fireworks.

“I, for one, am one of the Camas residents who likes to buy a lot of fireworks, and I do not set them off in the city limits, but feel good knowing my money stays in the city,” Lewallen said in June. “I think a public hearing (banning the) sale, purchase and discharge (versus banning only the discharge of mortars) would have different audiences that might want to come forward. They’re related, but not necessarily always connected. I’m all for public hearing on discharge. If we include the others, I hope that we separate them out in separate public hearings.”

The Council chose to hold just one public hearing the first week of September — to ban the sale, purchase and discharge of the mortar fireworks.

That ordinance passed. Now, city officials have agreed to also ban the possession of such fireworks. The impacted fireworks are commonly called mortars but are technically considered aerial shell kits with reloadable tubes. The ban will go into effect in September 2025.