New Year’s Eve fireworks complaints drop for second year in a row following Brampton ban

The city’s crackdown on personal fireworks appears to be working as the number of fines and complaints related to personal pyrotechnics on New Year’s Eve have dropped for the second straight year.

Brampton held its annual New Year’s celebration on Sunday night which featured performances by Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace and Brampton Arts Walk of Fame inductee Keshia Chanté, closing out the night with a city-sponsored fireworks display.

The city says Brampton Bylaw Services received a total of 24 complaints related to fireworks on New Year’s Eve – a slight drop from 25 complaints from the previous year and 28 complaints in 2022.

But only two penalty notices were issued by bylaw officers on New Year’s Eve this year, a drop from five tickets handed out in 2023.

Brampton’s ban on personal fireworks came in 2022, a year which saw a record number of complaints made to the city. Bylaw enforcement handed out more than $38,000 in fireworks fines in all of 2022, and Brampton Fire and Emergency Services says firefighters responded to 20 fires related to fireworks that cost taxpayers approximately $20,000.

The ban comes with a minimum $500 fine for discharging fireworks in Brampton while selling fireworks within city limits comes with a $1,000 ticket. Only the film industry and the City are allowed to get fireworks permits, under the new rules.

Outlawing personal-use pyrotechnics also led Brampton to launch city-sponsored fireworks displays for Diwali and Canada Day, which also saw fewer complaints and more fines handed out in 2023 compared to previous years.

The city previously banned “long-range” fireworks in 2016, but the city’ said that ban saw no decrease in fireworks usage in Brampton.

For more information on Brampton’s fireworks bylaw visit www.Brampton.ca.