Fireworks ignite Pennsylvania neighbor’s front door
When Glenn Taylor saw flames light up his home's door on Tuesday night, the septuagenarian sprung into action and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the garage.
Watching a fireworks display from your front door is nice. Watching your neighbor's fireworks display destroy your front door is not.
When Glenn Taylor saw flames light up his home's door in York Township, Pa., Tuesday night, the septuagenarian sprang into action and grabbed a fire extinguisher from the garage, the York Daily Record reported. Attempting to save his home and protect his wife, who is ill, Taylor tackled the fire from inside the home. A neighbor who saw flames lap up the front porch and a shrub doused the fire with a garden hose.
"If not for the neighbor who came over with the garden hose, it could've been a lot worse," Goodwill Fire Company Chief Nathan Tracey told the newspaper.
The errant fireworks display destroyed a large bush, melted porch lights and a doorbell, cracked a window, and ruined the exterior overhang above the door.
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Taylor said the fire had been mostly extinguished by the time firefighters arrived. Authorities told the Record that the damage was caused by the falling remnants of a neighbor's fireworks display. York Area Regional Police are investigating.
A new Pennsylvania state law, passed in October, allows residents to purchase consumer-grade fireworks, such as bottle rockets, Roman candles, and other aerial firecrackers. But there are restrictions. In a Facebook post, York Mayor Michael Helfrich explained that fireworks users must be 150 feet away from occupied structures when setting them off.
That means, he wrote, "there are very few places in the city of York where fireworks can be used."
You also can't shoot the fireworks toward a car or a building. If you want to set off your own fireworks show on public or private property, you need permission from the property owner. Violation of the law could result in a $100 fine.
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The fireworks that destroyed the front of Taylor's home were set off less than 70 feet away, authorities said.
No injuries were reported.
The City of York started a fireworks tip line this summer after receiving nearly 100 complaints.
And what did Taylor have to say about the new law that makes it easier for Pennsylvanians to light bigger fireworks into the air for the first time in decades?
"The lawmakers made their decision, and we've got to live with it," he told the Record.