Fireworks.
Any firecrackers, cannon crackers, skyrockets, torpedoes,
Roman candles, sparklers, squibs, fire balloons, star shells, gerbs
or any other substance in whatever combination by any designated name
intended for use in obtaining visible or audible pyrotechnic display,
and such term shall include all articles or substances within the
meaning of fireworks, whether herein specifically designated and defined
or not.
Person.
Any natural person, association of persons, partnership,
corporation, or agent or officer of a corporation, and shall also
include all warehousemen, common and private carriers, bailees, trustees,
receivers, executors, and administrators.
(1986 Code, ch. 5, sec. 5:A)
Any person, firm, corporation, company or association who shall violate any of the provisions of this article, or suffer or allow the same to be violated, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by fine as provided in section
1.01.009, and each day during which such violation shall continue to exist shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
(1986 Code, ch. 5, sec. 5:D)
The transporting, storing, offering for sale, possession or
presence of any fireworks, including types covered by article 9205,
Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, within the city or the territorial
jurisdiction of the city (being the area immediately adjacent and
contiguous to the city limits and extending outside the city limits
for a distance of five thousand (5,000) feet in all directions), is
hereby declared to be illegal and a public nuisance, and it shall
hereafter be unlawful for any person to maintain, assemble, store,
transport, receive, keep, sell, offer or have in his possession with
the intent to sell, use, discharge, cause to be discharged, ignite,
detonate, or otherwise set in action any fireworks of any description
within the city or its territorial jurisdiction; provided this section
shall not prohibit lawful authorized pyrotechnic displays.
(1986 Code, ch. 5, sec. 5:B)
(a) The
duly appointed and acting chief of the city volunteer fire department,
or his authorized representative, is hereby authorized to seize and
cause to be destroyed any fireworks found within the city or its territorial
jurisdiction in violation of the provisions of this article.
(b) Any
member of the fire department, any police officer, or any other peace
officer is empowered to detain any fireworks found being transported
illegally or to close any building where any fireworks are found stored
illegally, until the fire department can be notified in order that
such fireworks may be seized and destroyed in accordance with the
terms of this article.
(c) Notwithstanding
any penal provision hereof, the city attorney is authorized to file
suit on behalf of the city for such injunctive relief as may be necessary
to prevent unlawful storage, transportation, keeping or using of fireworks
within the jurisdiction of the city and to prevent any person from
interfering with the seizure and destruction of such fireworks; provided,
however:
(1) That it shall not be necessary to obtain such injunctive relief as
a prerequisite to such seizure and destruction;
(2) That the duly appointed and acting chief of the city volunteer fire
department, or his authorized representative, is hereby authorized
to enter any building where the unlawful presence of fireworks is
suspected in order to inspect the same for the presence of such fireworks;
(3) That, in any instance where the fire chief or any of his duly authorized
assistants have probable cause to believe that fireworks are being
stored in a building, they shall promptly enter the building for the
purpose of inspection; and
(4) That it shall be the duty of the owner, lessee or person otherwise
in charge of such building, or their agents or employees, to open
and permit entry into the building by persons charged with the enforcement
of the provisions herein.
(1986 Code, ch. 5, sec. 5:C)
(a) It
shall be lawful to transport ICC class C common fireworks, as defined
in article 1727, Vernon’s Annotated Texas Penal Code, by motor
vehicles which meet the Interstate Commerce Commission requirement
for transporting ICC class C common fireworks and equipped with at
least one ten-pound fire extinguisher for extinguishing type B fire,
along and upon state and federally numbered highways within the city.
It shall further be lawful for bona fide fireworks dealers to transport
ICC class C common fireworks, as defined by article 1727, Vernon’s
Annotated Texas Penal Code, along and upon state and federally numbered
highways within the city.
(b) This
article shall not apply to signal flares and torpedoes of the type
and kind commonly used by any railroads, which signal flares and torpedoes
are received by and stored or transported by any railroad for use
in railroad operation; nor shall this article apply to any marine
signal flare or rocket of the type and kind commonly carried by a
vessel at sea for its own use and which signal flare or rocket is
transported or received or stored for use only as ship’s stores;
nor shall this article apply to signal flares or rockets for military
or police use; nor shall this article apply to starter’s blanks
and pistols used at athletic events.
(c) This
article shall not apply to pyrotechnic displays designed to entertain
the general public, provided no such public display shall occur in
the city or its territorial jurisdiction unless and until the chief
of the city volunteer fire department has duly approved, in writing,
such display in advance thereof, and the fire chief or his designated
and authorized representatives shall duly supervise same.
(1986 Code, ch. 5, sec. 5:E)