DENTON COUNTY Albert Wiersch said he feels like he spent this New Year's Eve dodging fireworks and fires in his neighborhood.
I felt like I was on fire duty, basically, he said.
The Denton County father and computer programmer recorded several of his neighbors igniting large fireworks from their backyards in the Lantana subdivision, 35 miles northwest of Dallas.
Wiersch saw a bottle rocket catch the grass on fire across the street, and watched as several people ran over to stomp out the small blaze.
It was scary, Wiersch said. I was afraid something was going to get out of control.
Firefighters worry it nearly did.
Officers report fireworks ignited at least five grass fires in this sprawling subdivision of 2,500 homes in Denton County. One fire burned more than an acre of the neighborhood golf course and inched within feet of a row of homes.
It's very reckless to go off and shoot fireworks in a subdivision like Lantana, said Chief Mac Hohenberger of the nearby Argyle Fire Department. His department responded to more than 20 frantic 911 calls from the subdivision on New Year's Eve.
We saw bottle rockets going off all around us, Hohenberger said. We'd hear the calls for the other grass fires coming in as those rockets went off.
Just a few miles away in the town of Argyle, the chief said police could arrest or ticket anyone caught shooting fireworks, but that's not the case in Lantana.
I think any subdivision like Lantana you should not be allowed to shoot fireworks within that subdivision, he said.
Most North Texas cities banned fireworks long ago in their city limits. Journey beyond those limits, however, and fireworks are still legal.
That's where things get complicated in Lantana, home to 8,000 people. It's a neighborhood larger than many Texas towns, but it sits in an unincorporated part of Denton County a no-man's land, neighbors say where very few property or quality of life rules apply.
It doesn't matter if it's a subdivision or a 100-acre ranch... it's unincorporated, said Denton County Fire Marshal Jody Gonzalez. We have no authority to ban the sell or use of fireworks in an unincorporated area.
Gonzalez has spoken at several legislative hearings in Austin urging lawmakers to change the state laws to give counties more authority to ban fireworks. He said county leaders can only ban fireworks under the most severe drought conditions something Denton County doesn't currently meet.
What's best in my personal opinion is a little bit more local control and oversight over those types of public safety issues, Gonzalez said.
He would like the county to have the authority to ban fireworks in dense subdivisions like Lantana, while still allowing them on rural land.
Legislative efforts at reform have failed. Critics question whether more rules are needed, and worry how they could hurt the fireworks industry.
With the county unable to ban fireworks, concerned neighbors in Lantana have turned unsuccessfully to their homeowners' association.
It doesn't make sense to me, homeowner Wiersch said. The houses are too close together.
Bruce Crawford, Lantana s community manager, said the board considered and dismissed banning fireworks a few years ago, because a fireworks ban would be nearly impossible for the association to enforce.
You'd have to rely on reports from homeowners reporting on other homeowners, Crawford said. Establishing proof could be challenging, and even then, he said, it's not like volunteers can write a neighbor a ticket.
You can send them a letter, but there's no teeth to it, Crawford said. It would be very, very difficult to enforce.
After the string of New Year's fires in Lantana, officers said they were able to hold some people accountable. Fire marshals issued citations to two neighbors for accidentally starting two separate fires.
Charles Loftis, 38, and Ted Russell, 46, were ticketed for reckless damage, a Class C violation that is punishable with up to a $500 fine.
Gonzalez said those men were ticketed only because they admitted to causing damage not for the act of igniting fireworks.
It's all a troubling reality to homeowners like Wiersch, who would like officers to be able to stop neighbors before a fire breaks out. They said they couldn't do anything about it unless something burned down, he said. Then they might issue a citation.
E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com
