Photo by James Short.
During its most recent meeting, the Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors voted to pass Resolution 1576, which will set a fee for a permit not previously available in the community. After a local business requested to use indoor pyrotechnics, the township had to first do its due diligence.
“We received information and inquiries from a local entity that hosts weddings and special events, “ said newly sworn-in Township Manager Eric Traub, as the board reviewed its Consent Agenda. “We were asked about having interior pyrotechnics or internal fireworks. It wasn’t something that we’d heard about before. Myself, and our deputy fire marshal, made an appointment to actually view this.”
Traub said that the two visited the venue in person to see just how these operations would work.
“It essentially is, July 4 is coming up,” said Traub. “You think of those sparklers that your kids strike and then watch? It’s basically a small kind of one-foot-by-one-foot box, with some powder put in, and it puts out a very large kind of sparkle.”
“It is not something that emits any heat,” said the manager. “It’s not something that is a very high fire risk.”
However, Traub said, there are NFPA standards for indoor pyrotechnics. The National Fire Protection Association issues specific codes and guidelines for products that may be a risk for fire or injury. The indoor displays are specifically outlined in NFPA 11262, which he said “we will follow in terms of this [requested permit].”
“In terms of what will happen, our fire marshal will do kind of a brief site visit before any of this is used,” said Traub. “He will make sure everything is in order, and then that fee will cover our expenses.”
The new permit will come with a fee, though its amount was not discussed in the meeting, nor on the supervisors’ agenda.
Supervisor and Secretary Jeff Campolongo asked the manager if there was any educational component put onto the venues themselves prior to use of such pyrotechnics.
He wondered if venues would be responsible to know “number one, the ordinance, and number two, what they could do to be the safest.”
“I think that is certainly something we can do in terms of reaching out to, we know the main venues that host those events,” said Traub. “We don’t believe this is a widespread thing. But, having viewed it, and thinking about people having these events, trying to create memorable moments and things of that nature, we could see it being something that we see more frequently. It’s certainly something we can do in terms of reaching out to them.”
At the present time, Traub said only the single facility, which he and the deputy marshal did review in person, has requested such a permit, and the venue provided a demonstration for them.
“It was very safe in terms of, if that box were to be tipped over, it would automatically shut off,” he said. “We did feel very comfortable with that, but that’s something that we’ll follow up on.”
Koch made the motion to approve this resolution at the supervisors’ last meeting, via approval of the Consent Agenda. Chair Scott Badami seconded the motion. The motion was approved by the five-member board unanimously.
