MUSKEGON, Mich. — The official 2020 fireworks season in Michigan started at 11 a.m. on Monday, June 29, and runs through 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, July 4.
But in Muskegon, police have responded to a big spike in complaints about fireworks.
Over the last month, Muskegon Police officers gave dozens of warnings. Noise complaints to police over the same time period are up too.
"Just gone off the charts," Lewis said.
In June 2019, Muskegon Police took three noise complaints about fireworks. According to Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis, this June there have been 60 calls.
"It's hard to attribute what's causing it, but maybe simply because there's not a lot of public fireworks out this year," he said.
Violators can be changed with a civil fine for violating the rules. Those fines can go as high as $1,000.
"Which we're not afraid to write those right now because we're getting so many complaints," Lewis said Tuesday.
The city of Muskegon used its Facebook page to remind residents of state rules.
The city says it should only be done on privately owned property, or private property with specific permission from the property owner.
Dan Johnson says non of those calls to police were about him, even though he loves shooting off fireworks he plays by the new rules.
"It never gets old for me," Johnson said.
Johnson believes the illegal use of fireworks is in part because the state has too severely limited use of fireworks.
"I think if they allowed people to do them on other days perhaps before 11:00 p.m. quiet hours then I think that would alleviate some of the two in the morning explosions," Johnson said.
When are fireworks allowed in Michigan?
At the end of 2018, the state of Michigan established new fireworks laws to give local communities the option to lower the number of days when fireworks can be set off.
- 11 a.m. Dec. 31 to 1 a.m. Jan. 1
- 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday and Sunday immediately preceding Memorial Day
- 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. June 29 to July 4
- 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. July 5, if that date is a Friday or Saturday
- 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday and Sunday immediately preceding Labor Day
More stories on 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.