PA Fireworks Reform

Photo: PA Post, Ed Mahon

Welcome! The following is a citizens attempt to inform and build consensus around reasonable changes to the current PA fireworks laws and enforcement for the good of all. More resources will be added and if you have anything to share please contact me at asahelchurch at gmail dot com.

SIGN THE PETITION!

HISTORY and BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM

Explanation of law and remaining restrictions, YDR, June 18, 2018
https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/06/18/pennsylvania-new-fireworks-laws-make-bang-july-4th-safety-legal-illegal/697580002/

The Fire Rises: Refining the Pennsylvania Fireworks Law so that Fewer People Get Burned, Sean Kraus, Dickinson Law Review
https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlr/vol123/iss3/9/

LAWS and REGULATIONS

The ATF oversees manufacture but not the sale and distribution of consumer fireworks. Most consumer fireworks fall below the threshold for federal guidelines regarding transportation of explosives.
https://www.atf.gov/explosives/fireworks

The DOT oversees transportation of fireworks.
https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/energetic-materials-approvals/fireworks

Glossary of Pyrotechnic Terms from the Industry
https://www.americanpyro.com/glossary-of-pyrotechnic-terms

In the past 10 years, the classification system for fireworks changed. There is still confusion and the old "class" designations are often still used. This handout, apparently given to firework stand operators to help them comply with ordinances, is helpful:
https://www.shoalwaterbay-nsn.gov/assets/PDFs/Law--Order-Codes/Stand-Owner-Fireworks-classifications-in-the-United-States.pdf


CONCERNS

Noise Pollution and Peace of Neighborhood
-LA on July 4th https://twitter.com/KTLA/status/1279640387859218433?s=20

Pets
-Fireworks: Awesome for Human, Terrifying for Pets https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/fireworks-july-fourth-tips

PTSD

Safety
-"On average 180 people go to the emergency room every day..." CPSC.gov

-"Fire cause by illegal fireworks causes fire displaces 10 in York City," YDR 7/5/20
YDR News Fire 7-5-2020

-Lancaster City Building Fir Caused by Careless Use of Fireworks 7/5/2020
CityofLancasterpa.com Headline

(Air) Pollution and Fireworks
Forbes article on fireworks and air pollution

DATA

Consumer Product Safety Commission
-publishes a report of firework injuries among other things each year
https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Fireworks

CURRENT LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS

There is an amendment in the PA House to increase the first offense fine to $500 and subsequent to $1000 with confiscation. In my opinion, this is not going to help in any significant way. It doesn't help cut off supply OR help local enforcement who still have to either see the individual illegally using fireworks or find a witness willing to testify - all of which is time consuming and is NOT what our police force should be forced to waste time on.

PA Sen. Kristin Philips-Hill talks with York City Fire Chief Deardorf about the problem 7/2/2020
https://soundcloud.com/senatorkristin/070220-firework-safety-with-york-city-fire-chief-chad-deardorff

Survey Results from Phillips-Hill, 7-2020

Phillips-Hill 07-2020 "The survey mirrors calls and emails received at our offices over the last several weeks from concerned local neighbors.

This feedback will be shared in your state Capitol. I will formally request a hearing to allow voices to be heard on this growing concern throughout York County and across the state to determine how we move forward to allow our community to safely and responsibly enjoy the Fourth of July holiday.

You can view the 2017 vote on the law to permit “consumer fireworks” (e.g., bottle rockets, Roman candles, etc.) here: House vote | Senate vote.

As always, feel free to contact me with any opinion, suggestion or concern as it pertains to this issue or any state-related matter."

September 24, 2019 Committee Hearing
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2019_0126T.pdf

'It Sounds Like a War Zone' PA Post, July 12, 2019
https://papost.org/2019/07/12/it-sounds-like-a-war-zone-why-a-bucks-county-fire-chief-and-lawmaker-wants-more-restrictions-on-pa-fireworks/

Get involved!

Step 1: Talk to Your Neighbors

Sample letter to give to neighbors (coming soon)

Step 2: Sign the Petition

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/end-fireworks-madness-in-pa

Step 3: Contact Your State Representative

Find out who your PA state rep. is...

Step 4: Contact Your Local Municipality

Local (York City)

Friendly reminder from YCPD of the law
https://york.crimewatchpa.com/yorkpd/8395/post/fireworks-law

Swinging a Hammer Into the New Year

 Transitioning a second story kitchen into a bedroom is harder than you might imagine. Here's a shot of the cabinets mostly demolished. The uppers have already been moved to the garage to make storage space (imagine the white area on the wall as the "backsplash"). In this picture you can see a number of potentially deadly DIY projects:

The rest of the demo work reveals missing baseboard and miserable water  damage to the flooring.

W. M. Rutter- apparently a now defunct WV lumber  company.
Difficult to obtain 1 1/2 x 5/16 red oak strip flooring.

My pathetic first attempts at soldering copper pipes in the wall between the room and a closet. You can see that the first try didn't work (water sprayed on  lathe).  On a second try, I forgot to empty the active water line down to the valve in the basement and nearly lost an eye when steam in the pipe built up and shot off the end cap like a bullet!

Plaster patching finished (I was forced to cap the waste water line and leave it protruding slightly from the wall). It connects to an air vent directly on the other side of this wall in the corner of the closet. Since we didn't want to remove the whole thing, which would have also involved roof work, we settled for a small oddity. It will likely be behind a bed or some other piece of furniture anyway!

You can see the electrical outlet now moved to the baseboard just to the right of the ladder.

Well, it's still a work in progress. I was able to reuse baseboard from the kitchen in this room, except for one stretch. I also found trim work I had saved to match the existing wood around the closet door. I would not have been able to match it otherwise, short of custom millwork (hah!). What remains? SERIOUS flooring work (2 inch x 5/16 straight edge is on order- I will have to rip each piece), then refinishing the entire floor and lots of painting. Stay tuned!

No Pain, No Gain: How to Revive Old and Overgrown Bushes

The mantra of anyone attempting to resurrect overgrown bushes should be, "no pain, no gain." Unfortunately, that applies both to the bush and the bush owner. Just like trees, its amazing how much stuff ends up on the ground for cleaning up when you begin the process of trimming (in this case, more like extreme pruning).

After 40 years as citizens of York City, the former owners of 665 Madison weren't exactly on top of their landscaping . Beautiful flowering bushes had been neglected beyond a cursory "shape-up" far too long. In the picture to the left, the base of these bushes is on average five feet from the front of the bush, but a mere 2 feet from the back of the bush

Less visible in the pictures below, are "three" yew bushes covering well over 300 sq. feet of both our front yard and the neighbor's. After some consideration and debate, the verdict was passed. Our with the Yew bushes and radical intervention for the flowering bushes along the side of the house. 

Now that we removed them, the front is a lot more open.

The bushes are not attractive but are showing new growth, even in the midst of a hot summer.

Roof Job Unwanted: Why You Should Fix It Now, Not Later

This spring, while we we were making wild plans for a privacy fence along our corner lot backyard, rain water was slipping between crumbling slate and nonexistent sheathing on our porch roof. Its sudden condemnation re-routed our plans and we immediately launched a semi-DYI roofing project. Go-week was June 14th until finished (one week to the day), and I hired friend Steve Williamson for the expertise and tools [I am likely the most tool impoverished DYI'er in the U.S.]. Happy to provide a contractor recommendation for anyone in York County!

As it turns out, most of the roof damage was a result of a leaky roof that had been fixed some time ago, albeit very shoddily. The fix had come a bit too late to prevent serious rotting.

Since our neighbor's had already shed the slate from their side of the porch roof and the slate on our side was in very poor condition, our decision was easy. Pull off the slate and anything rotted beneath (crossed fingers, crossed fingers...) and replace with asphalt shingles.

Here's a few pictures to show what we did:

Demolition day rolled around and we made fairly quick work of removing the slate. It's a job best done primarily with a small pry bar and your hands, working from the top down. We dedicated a significant amount of time huffing the 1/3 or so of the slate tiles that were in good condition to the garage for re-use on our slate main roof or for landscaping purposes. We found significant parts of the old planking completely disintegrated, and I fell through on one or two occasions!

Proving that TV ads do occasionally work even on those who don't have a TV in their house, I signed up for WM's "Bagster" for this project and was impressed by the amount of stuff we put in it. A few days after scheduling pickup, a large truck showed up and lifted the bag by remote control crane into the bed of the truck. I paid short of $40 for the bag and $144 for the pickup. Totally worth it.

After removing all the old sheathing, we found the beams to be in pretty good shape, save for some rotting on the tops of the wood beams as seen below. It was beyond irritating to realize that the rotting was all dated and now completely dry. The previous owners had let the roof become leaky for some time, before they finally decided to do something about it. Excited that we'd be able to sister a few 2xs and get on with the new roof...

We got held up by the middle section of the eaves shared with our neighbor. There the rotting was significant. This wasn't altogether surprising- we knew water was slipping between some broken tiles and filtering down into the eaves. We just hoped that there was something left to hold the new roof up.

In the picture below you can see a new beam we managed to wedge on the neighbor's side of the roof to prop up their sagging shingles, and then a second sistered beam on my side (the right side). In retrospect, I wish we had extended a new beam the full length of the roof for peace of mind. The reality is, however, if we keep water out by maintaining the roof, it really won't matter.

We also took a big dip out of the roof by slapping 2xs along the beams.

Here's the repair on the eaves and corner of the roof a bit further along. We put the aluminum soffit (just like the neighbor's on the right) back up once we were finished.

At the end of day 2, this is what the roof looked like.

The old roof had no true flashing. Here, we used a grinder and then tucked the flashing into the brick.

On a side note, Linden Painters finished our neighbor's house, which included portions of shared architecture. Below, the left window is our and the right window is our neighbor's. Interestingly, the neighbor's window opens into a closet, whereas in our house the closet was removed to make more space in the bedroom.

Demolition Update: Before and Now...and after?

Demolition Day got us off to a great start with the remodeling of our 1912 Arts and Crafts house in York, PA. But so much has happened since then!

The kitchen walls have gone from yellow faux-brick wall board, to the mounting lathe beneath it, to bare plaster.

We've pealed back the walls around the back stairs in preparation for their removal and expansion of our kitchen.

 (These are the basement stairs, in their place will

be the fridge, stove, and countertop.)

The dining room closet is ready to be converted to the new basement stairs.

 (We're hoping to recycle the wood flooring we

carefully pulled up in the closet by using it to repair

flooring in a second floor bedroom!)

And most recently, and perhaps most exciting: the kitchen floor has gone from three layers of linoleum (one for every three decades I suppose) to bare wood. Thank to Jon Allen for his assistance in getting the floors to this point!

(While we sanded a lot of lines, stains, and old adhesive off the floors,

another mystery line appeared. It appears to be some sort of cut made when

installing previous flooring but even more interestingly, it seems to have dyed the

wood around it!)

We can't wait for the final product. Then we'll have true before and after photos!