In the end, it wasn’t a heated discussion, but it was about heat.
At Monday’s meeting, April 9, Cranbrook City Council narrowly voted to not prohibit fireworks displays from April 1 though October 31, voting against a City staff recommendation.
The recommendation from staff comes after several past seasons where extreme weather conditions meant that if Canada Day fireworks weren’t cancelled altogether, they only got the go-ahead at the very last minute.
“During the past several years, Canada Day fireworks has been cancelled on one occasion due to extremely dry weather conditions and the potential risk of wildfire,” the City staff report to Council read.
“On other occasions the decision to launch fireworks was delayed until the final hours of the display due to weather and wind conditions. These types of scenarios place a lot of pressure on the event organizer, the display contractor and the fire official when there is an expectation from the general public that an event was scheduled to occur.”
Even so, Council voted against the motion (three votes against to three in favor, including Mayor Lee Pratt) — with some Councillors loathe to ban fireworks displays — an immensely popular event in Cranbrook — without due consideration of alternatives, such as a laser show, for example, or a lower level fireworks display.
Councillor Wes Graham said that it while it would be prudent to review when the City has fireworks displays, he asked Council to defeat the motion, and come back to it after discussion of alternatives — a display during a winter festival, perhaps, or New Year’s celebration, “where we wouldn’t have to deal with dry weather conditions.
“Our community loves fireworks,” he added.
Fire Chief Wayne Price spoke to Council, discussing the difficulties in mounting a fireworks display during extreme wildfire conditions, and the timelines, cost and pressure on staff it involves. Not least, Chief Price said, is the fact that there is really no suitable venue for a fireworks display in Cranbrook. Moir Park is on the wildfire interface, and there are property considerations in the downtown core.
Mayor Lee Pratt said no matter what decision Council took, they couldn’t win with the public.
“We had lots of complaints last year,” he said. “It’s always a last minute decision [to go ahead with fireworks] the past few years.”
Pratt said alternatives were already under consideration — the City hosted an inaugural Fall Festival last year, and there is some discussion about mounting a Winter Festival.
“I think the writing is on the wall [for fireworks displays],” he said.
When called to a vote, Councillors Danielle Eaton, Mike Peabody and Wesly Graham voted against the motion. Councillors Norma Blissett and Ron Popoff voted for the motion, along with Mayor Lee Pratt. It was understood that the issue would be revisited in the near future after discussion of alternatives.
Mayor Lee Pratt opened Monday’s meeting by offering condolences to the City and People of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, in light of the tragic accident Friday in which 15 members of the SJHL Humboldt Broncos were killed.