Expired license ends fireworks in Haines

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OH SAY CAN YOU SEE FIREWORKS (IN SOUTHEAST)?

Regulation has hit Haines and Skagway: For the lack of a license, there will be no grand fireworks this Fourth of July. Because nothing says Independence Day like OSHA.

Haines Borough code requires a licensed pyrotechnician for firework displays within 250 feet of the port. The fireworks are often exploded from a barge offshore. But Borough manager Bill Seward doused the fireworks show because local pyrotechnician’s Phil Wilde let his license expire.

For years, Wildefire Pyrotechnics put on a show at Portage Cove on July 3, and then July 4 in Skagway. It would have cost the borough $10,000 to bring in a legally licensed pyrotechnician from Anchorage, according to KHNS radio.

Residents will be allowed to light fireworks at at waters edge at local beaches, but the closest traditional grand display will be in Juneau on the night of July 3, where Independence Day weather is predicted to be ideal.