Aurora Fire Rescue officially gave the OK to fireworks starting last Saturday as Fourth of July approaches but reminded people to be cautious and only use fireworks permissible under city law.

In Thursday morning’s Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Committee meeting, fire officials deemed conditions safe enough to allow fireworks that don’t leave the ground or explode to be used and sold in the city between Saturday and July 4.

The decision is allowed by a city ordinance that temporarily lifts the ban on specific types of fireworks each year during the three-week period that leads up to and includes the Fourth of July, as long as the fire department deems the conditions as of June 15 safe enough to allow it, according to officials.

In the process of making this decision, officials consider state orders, department preparedness, weather, drought index reports and environmental metrics that help them understand fire risk.

“None of the nationally recognized metrics we monitor to assess environmental fire risk in our community exceed thresholds requiring a fire ban,” Aurora Fire Chief Alec Oughton said in a news release following Thursday’s meeting. “We urge those in our community to take precautions to prevent injuries or fires if you choose to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks.”

The decision means firework sales started on Saturday.

Permissible fireworks in Aurora are those that don’t leave the ground and do not explode, including fountains, sparklers, wheels, snakes and ground spinners, according to the city’s regulations. The minimum age for using them is 16, unless the user is with an adult over 21.

The maximum penalty for violating the fireworks ordinance is $2,650 and up to one year in jail.

While Aurora has similar rules to the cities of Centennial and Boulder, some surrounding cities, like Arvada, outright ban all fireworks, including sparklers.

Despite the allowance of fireworks for the next three weeks, fire officials urged people to follow safety rules and precautions to avoid unnecessary risks.

In 2022, more than 10,200 emergency room visits in the U.S. resulted from firework-related injuries, with almost three quarters of them happening between June 17 and July 17, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, fireworks cause about 19,500 fires in the country every year.

Last year in Aurora, a structure fire caused by improper disposal of fireworks at a housing complex damaged several units and injured a firefighter the day before the Fourth of July.

In February of this year, Aurora firefighters responded to a death involving illegal fireworks at a dog park near Quincy Reservoir.

Fireworks should only be used outdoors, never under the influence of drugs or alcohol, lit one at a time, and soaked in water for several hours before discarding, the city’s fire department said in a firework education flier.

Fireworks users should always keep a bucket of water nearby and remember not to re-light a “dud” or faulty firework, according to the flier.

In Thursday’s public safety meeting, Councilmember Steve Sundberg said the council gets barraged with complaints about fireworks every year around the holiday, calling the situation “out of control.”

“This situation is like a dike with one-hundred holes in it and we can put our fingers in two of them,” Sundberg said. “We get the most hateful, frustrated emails, phone calls, text messages from residents.”

The fire department plans to upstaff its wildland fire crews in the days before and on Fourth of July, Battalion Chief Rod Weber said at Thursday’s meeting.

Aurora is holding its Fourth of July Spectacular event from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 4,  at the Aurora Municipal Center, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy. Fireworks will begin around 9:30 p.m.