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After Utah's first summer with a new fireworks law, public safety officials and many citizens say tweaking is in order.
While data is being collected from across the state, the initial reaction is that the month-long "fireworks season" is too long.
"The complaints I've heard from citizens are the noise," said Terry Keefe, Layton police chief and president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association. He said people complained that it was way too long a period for fireworks, and that it had a bad effect on pets, especially dogs.
"Several people were not happy with the new cakes fireworks because of the debris in their yards," Keefe said. Cakes are multi-shot devices that fire off aerial shells or mortars from a stable base.
Sandy resident Tanya Lewis is glad the season is over. She says her life can now go back to normal. "My son, who is four, can sleep at night and my neighborhood is no longer going to sound like a war zone," Lewis said.
One of the reasons behind the law change was to deter Utahns from driving to Evanston, Wyo., to buy fireworks and retain the sales tax revenue in Utah.
Lewis said she understands that and knows people want to set off fireworks for the holidays. "But to set them off for that long, so close to people's houses when we have to go to work and day care at 6 a.m., I just think is ridiculous," she said.
The new law allows fireworks to be bought and set off between June 26 and July 26. The previous law allowed fireworks to be purchased beginning on June 19, but they could be set off only three days before or after July 4 and 24.
Ruth Counter, a Bountiful resident, said there are no more birds in her neighborhood because of the fireworks.
Counter said she likes to celebrate and partook in the fireworks fun, buying and setting them off with her family and friends.
"But every night for a month is too much," Cantor said, adding that under the old law people still set off fireworks after the designated times, but it was tolerable because it would only last a few days.
Utah Fire Marshal Brent Halladay described the new law as polarizing.
As he awaits reports from fire departments across the state, he has fielded his share of complaints. They are the same heard by Keefe: noise and length of time.
"For many of our citizens in the state this year, it has been like a country kid in a candy store in the city," Halladay said. "They've never had the opportunity to buy legal fireworks and shoot them up in the air. We have literally had thousands of them discharged."
With that many fireworks set off, Halladay said it has been relatively safe season with a few fires caused by cakes, but nothing that got out of control.
Larger fires during the season came from other sources and fireworks that are illegal under the new law, he said.
Meanwhile at the University Hospital burn center, outreach education coordinator Annette Matherly said the unit has seen an increase in fireworks injuries this year. But she said they cannot directly attribute the increase to the new law because it is not specified what type of firework was used when a patient comes in.
Fire departments will later report their statistics for the season, which they can compare to last year's season.
"I don't know if it has been successful or not. We'll have to see," Halladay said. "We probably ought to look at cutting the time period a little bit, so is not so many days."
Halladay suggests that those who have an opinion about the new law call their legislators and let them know what is working and what is not.
Rep. Jim Dunnigan, who sponsored the new law, has been getting feedback from constituents.
Fans of the change say they like having the more exciting fireworks and not having to drive to Wyoming to buy them. Initial reports from retailers indicate their sales increased this year.
"The concerns I've heard is the length of time allowed to set off the fireworks, as well as the noise," Dunnigan said.
Under the new law, local governments were left to set hours when fireworks could be used.
"Unfortunately some people set them off late into the night or in the wee hours of the morning, which just ruins it for everybody, he said."
Calls and emails to Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, also contain complaints about bottle rockets, fire crackers, single-shot mortars, and Roman candles, fireworks that are still illegal, Dunnigan said.
Dunnigan's list of items to review for next year mirrors that of Halladay and Keefe.
"We need to decrease the number of days in which fireworks can be discharged, certainly after the Fourth" he said. "I plan on sponsoring legislation to make some changes."
But not everybody has a problem with the new law. South Salt Lake resident Shaun Kruger said it is actually "quite nice" and he wouldn't have a problem if it was extended for the whole year.
"Mostly because I don't think there is a good reason to prohibit people from setting of fireworks," Kruger said. "If there is worry about liability, then we should be holding people accountable for negligence as opposed to preventing anyone from doing it."
Kruger has heard the complaints. But he said that if people weren't prohibited from setting off fireworks during the other 11 months of the year, they might not be so eager to set them off with such frequency for that one month.