Governor's plea a bit late

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. had the right idea with his call for local government to ban private fireworks during the upcoming July 24 holiday. Unfortunately, he made it too late.

Had he reacted quickly, when extremely dry and hot conditions became evident late last month, his call might have had some effect.

As it is, most municipalities seem to be concluding, with ample justification, that a ban this late would put them in danger of legal action. Many local governments already have issued business licenses and permits to companies that sell legal fireworks. They can't now come back and revoke those decisions, while the products are for sale across much of the state, without causing financial harm to those vendors.

But that doesn't lessen the fact that allowing private fireworks in Utah during July is a nutty idea.

State lawmakers need to follow up on the governor's concerns. When they meet next January, amid the snow and ice of a Utah winter, they should change state law and make private fireworks during July illegal. Banning them during other special holidays during wetter months seems less justified.

Meanwhile, the cities and counties who have said the governor's call came too late need to take responsibility, as well. An informal interpretation of state law, posted on the state fire marshal's Web site, says local governments have broad discretion to limit the discharge of fireworks "in the interest of fire protection and public safety." They could have acted on their own.

We're heartened by the cities who have at least promised to step up enforcement during the upcoming holiday. As usual, legal fireworks tend to cause few problems. However, the fact that some fireworks are legal prompts many people to acquire illegal ones, figuring authorities won't bother to track them down. Anything that travels higher than 15 feet violates state law, but that statute seldom gets enforced. Maybe this year will be different.

Utah's dry summer conditions hardly qualify as news. They remain the same virtually every July. Even though his call for a ban came too late for many cities and counties to reasonably comply, Huntsman's publicly stated concerns about fireworks should raise the level of awareness to the point where lawmakers take action.