Cover Story

Worcester resident Rush Frazier. ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

“The fireworks ‘booms’ always give me a little anxiety,” said Mitchell James Cho. h The Worcester resident is referring to the fact that illegal fireworks were a serious issue last summer in Worcester, with the city having received nearly 2,000 complaints. Heading into July and the dog days of summer, residents are concerned that Worcester neighborhoods will sound like a city under siege once more. h Though fireworks and July go together like peanut butter and jelly, they are illegal in the state of Massachusetts. Still, backyard firecrackers are nothing new to Worcester residents, despite the worries about fire hazards, risk of injury and noise pollution. The latter can have an especially detrimental effect on veterans suffering from PTSD as well as pets and kids.

Charles Luster, right, founder of 2gether We Eat, discusses hydroponic farming at an event at the Boys and Girls Club in March. RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

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Last summer, fireworks could be heard all night, every night. Deputy Fire Chief Martin Dyer said, “it seems more normal this year,” and they have so far only received about 50 complaints. As it did last year, the city is setting up a task force along with an anonymous tip hotline. “Just trying to be a bit more proactive with the problem," Dyer said, "last year, it wasn’t just Worcester but a phenomenon across the nation and by the time we established the hotline, the horse was already out of the gate.”

Rush Frazier, Worcester resident, has an idea why that was the case. “People were going through hell last year and just trying to find a little joy.” They believe there are other ways to discourage fireworks rather than criminalize them, suggesting educating residents about fire safety and making extinguishers more available.

According to Frazier, the double standard is especially galling when Polar Park is setting off a fireworks display almost every Friday night. Frazier is clear that they would “much rather be hearing rinkydink fireworks than the professional loud ones” and goes so far as to say that the Polar Park fireworks are disrespectful.

Frazier thinks this year will be different in regards to illegal fireworks. “People have better things to do now, thankfully, but think of all the things that Polar Park could be doing with that money …”

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce announced in May that the 4th of July fireworks and celebration were canceled again due to COVID concerns. With approximately 10,000 attendees expected, it was deemed too much of a risk but that was before the timeline took a leap forward. “At the time, things weren’t going to open until August,” said WRCC Communications Director Dominque Goyette-Connerty. “We didn’t anticipate things getting better so quickly when we made the decision.”

Some residents aren't happy with the decision.

“Worcester pulled the plug too soon,” said Charles Luster. While nearby communities will host their own display, Luster pointed out not everyone has the means to go see them. “Kids who can’t get a ride to the nearest town will purchase fireworks illegally and it will be dangerous for our community,” he said.

Goyette-Connerty has re-

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ceived several calls asking about a reversal of the Chamber’s decision but says it’s not possible at this late stage. For an event of that size, the fireworks had to be booked far in advance. “It’s just not something we have the capacity to do,” she said.

Rather than make their own illegal fireworks show, GoyetteConnerty hopes that Worcester residents will enjoy the fireworks at Polar Park, sponsored by UniBank and the Worcester Red Sox. Displays are planned for the entire July 4 weekend. Additionally, there will be 12 more displays through the summer at Polar Park following all Friday night home games. A press release stated they “expect hundreds of thousands of people will see the displays from their homes or in gathering spots around Worcester.”

For Worcester residents like Cho and Frazier, that’s exactly the problem. “It would have been nice to have had a community conversation around the fact that basically every Friday feels like 4th of July,” said Cho.

Noise pollution is not the only reason residents would prefer fewer “community fireworks,” as Cho refers to them, but also to reduce interactions with law enforcement. The recently implemented ShotSpotter system, meant to track gunshots, he said, may be triggered by the fireworks and lead to an increased police presence in certain neighborhoods. However, Lt. Sean Murtha of the Worcester Police Department said that's not likely, explaining that every activation is analyzed to determine whether or not it’s a gunshot before it’s sent to the WPD. “The vast majority of illegal fireworks will not come out as ShotSpotter activations,” he said.

Despite this, the formation of a city task force is still not very reassuring to some. “I think that making a task force is part of the larger issue of policing of BIPOC and underserved populations,” said Cho. Luster shares this trepidation, saying especially for minority communities, the term task force is associated with examples of systemic racism and city politics, rather than seriously addressing an issue. “When I hear the word task force,” he said, “the first thing I think is, who is in charge.” In order to bring about any tangible change, he believes, the community must be involved from the conceptual stage.

“[Illegal fireworks] have been going on for eternity,” said longtime Worcester resident Wanda Alvarado-Eaton, but the city never made a serious attempt to stop them until last year. “The use of the word task force makes me wonder if they’re going to be targeting particular neighborhoods like mine.” Alvarado-Eaton lives in Bell Hill, and hears fireworks often. While she doesn’t dispute they can be a nuisance, “over policing and over governance” can be just as disruptive. “I don’t need anyone knocking on my door educating me, I need them to stop the 10-yearolds playing with firecrackers,” said Alvarado-Eaton, who as a child, saw her cousin burn his stomach when a firecracker backfired in his hand.

Fire safety is a separate issue from noise pollution and infinitely more objective. What one calls disturbing the peace, another might call background noise or a mild nuisance, but there’s no arguing about a burned hand. Dyer pointed out that one third of all injuries from illegal fireworks involved children under 15 years and last year, there was a fire on Preston

Deputy Chief Martin Dyer CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

There are no official fireworks this year, but the streets of Worcester are usually filled with unofficial ones for weeks around the Fourth of July, and Polar Park has its own for Friday home games. T&G FILE

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Street. Their greatest concern remains the most heavily urbanized areas of the city.

Luster did not disagree. “It takes one firework to be done wrong to burn down a house and injure someone, but people don’t think about that — they are focused on the excitement of it all — breaking the law, the thrill of the fireworks themselves.”

Dyer says that is, indeed, a significant part of the problem, and state police made large confiscations last year at the state border.

The gravity of the fire hazards and the high risk of injuries makes it important that fireworks are set off by experienced persons, according to Dyer. He reiterated that there is “so much that goes into it.” The fireworks at Polar Park and Holy Cross are managed by professionals who use the right shells, maintain a safe distance, along with security, and work with WFD to make sure everything is as it should be, he said.

Everyone agrees that illegal fireworks are a contentious issue in Worcester. The question is how to address that and while the city clearly believes a task force will investigate and make recommendations, the mixed messages are confusing to residents. If noise pollution is a concern then why is Polar Park being allowed to launch them every Friday, albeit legally? Particularly, the big bucks displays that create a great deal of sound pollution.

Others like Cho have resigned themselves to the fact that illegal fireworks are a part of July in the City of Worcester. "Honestly, I'd love to know why some folks light fireworks and cause a ruckus," says Cho, "but then again, I accept that I don't live in a quiet residential neighborhood … it's colorful and I enjoy that.”

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