FIREWORKS RETAILERS Despite restrictions, sales are skyrocketing

Ohio's fireworks paradox: Buy them here, but don't use them here.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
NORTH LIMA -- It was Bob George's day to splurge.
Up at the crack of dawn, George took his annual three-hour drive from Johnstown, Pa., to the Youngstown area, this time to Phantom Fireworks' newest store on Market Street.
With stepsons Michael, 14, and Nathan, 13, as his eager assistants, the retired insurance salesman filled four shopping carts with more than $1,800 worth of Roman candles and fountains, ground spinners and missiles, mortar kits and rockets.
George only paid about half the retail cost -- $956. His big-spending habits qualify him for a year-round two-for-one special at Phantom.
Then he packed up the car and headed home to prepare for a fireworks exhibit he puts on every Fourth of July for about 100 of his friends and neighbors.
"We put on probably as good a display as the professionals," he said with a grin.
George and the boys said they don't mind the yearly trip to Ohio, but they really don't have a choice.
Fireworks stores in Pennsylvania are not permitted to sell explosive fireworks to Pennsylvania residents.
Not that Ohio's fireworks laws are more lenient. Both states ban consumer use of all exploding fireworks -- only sparklers, smoke bombs and other novelties are allowed.
The difference is that Ohio will sell the banned products to Ohio residents. Buyers are required to sign an affidavit promising to take the fireworks to a specified location out of the state within 48 hours -- or within 72 hours if they're from outside Ohio.
Pennsylvania stores can sell the banned products only to out-of-state residents. Their customers, too, must sign a statement promising to take the products out of the state.
Rising sales
Despite the complicated legalities, however, local fireworks store owners say their sales have been rising dramatically year to year. They say the region is in line with a nationwide 250 percent increase in consumer fireworks use since 1992.
Vito Yeropoli said he's been "very satisfied" with the sales performance of the Sky King Fireworks he opened three years ago in Hillsville, Pa., about six miles east of Poland.
A vice president of the Florida-based Sky King and part-owner of the Hillsville store, Yeropoli said he relies heavily on customers from Ohio and West Virginia.
"I'm not allowed to sell to Pennsylvania customers at all, except for sparklers, smoke bombs and snaps," he explained.
He's seen customers spend as much as $6,000 or $7,000 on elaborate fireworks display, but his average customer spends at least $100.
Yeropoli has 32 employees working now, his biggest selling season. New Year's Eve is also becoming a popular fireworks event, he said, and the use of sparklers for weddings is giving a welcome boost to his off-season sales.
Sky King officials are working with the Pennsylvania Pyrotechnics Association pushing for a change in Pennsylvania's fireworks law, he said.
"It's a stupid law, and it's sickening for us because we lose business," he said. "I wish they'd come up with an easier way for the customers, but it's the law. What are you going to do? Over here, you've got to be careful or they'll shut you down."
B.J. Alan Co.
Local sales were up 25 percent last year for B.J. Alan Co., the Youngstown-based operator of 41 Phantom Fireworks stores in 12 states and 1,200 temporary fireworks stands in 17 other states.
Bill Weimer, vice president and general counsel, said B.J. Alan is the largest fireworks retailer in the country, based on number of stores, and second largest importer of fireworks. The company's $2 million North Lima store, which opened in May, is its biggest store ever.
Weimer said Ohio's fireworks laws are among the most stringent in the nation, but they're also clear.
"It may be tough, and it may require you to go through a lot of hoops, but at least there's a road map," he said. "The rules are the same, whether you're Youngstown or Toledo. Some other states leave interpretations up to each jurisdiction."
B.J. Alan has been involved in lobbying efforts to legalize consumer fireworks use in Ohio, he said, and the company also led efforts to set new safety standards for retail stores.
Weimer argued that fireworks and fireworks stores are much safer today than they were 25 years ago, but the laws in Ohio and Pennsylvania haven't changed to reflect those improvements.
To prove the point, he quoted statistics from the American Pyrotechnics Association showing that fireworks-related injuries nationwide have dropped 88.5 percent in the past 25 years, based on the number of injuries per hundred pounds of fireworks consumed, while consumer use has increased 661 percent.
"I challenge you to find another product where use is going up and injuries are going down," he said. "Usually, it's a corollary thing: As use goes up, injuries go up."
Emergency rooms
Three area emergency medicine officials confirmed that fireworks injuries are not a major problem in the region.
Fran Blatchford, nursing director at the Austintown Ambulatory Emergency Room, said the facility typically treats a few minor burns from sparklers or other fireworks each summer.
Anne Moss, trauma program manager at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, said the hospital has admitted four patients with fireworks-related injuries since 1995.
Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital has seen a gradual decline in the number of fireworks related injuries, said Tim Richards, emergency medical services coordinator there.