Bozeman residents explosively angry over non-compliant 4th of July festivities

While some were ooh-ing and awe-ing in Bozeman on the 4^th of July, others were at home sitting and fuming. Despite the ban on fireworks in town, folks say hearing their neighbors pop fireworks made them explosively angry.

“It started on Monday, and they lit off fireworks until midnight,” said Monica Schneider. “I screamed at them, so they stopped for a while but started up again.”

Schneider is a Bozeman native and says she was excited to hear that fireworks were banned in city limits this year.

“I just thought, ‘Yay, we’ll be able to go to sleep on the 4^th of July',” said Schneider.

But she thought wrong.

“It sounded like bombs were going off from 10 o’clock until midnight,” said Schneider.

The first firework show in three years was put on by the city at the softball complex off Highland Boulevard.

Schneider says it wasn’t those legal fireworks that kept her up, but the folks in town who decided to put on their own show.

Not only does Schneider say the fireworks keep her up at night, but they also keep her two dogs up as well.

“It makes them shake,” said Schneider. “My girl dog got under the covers and curled up on my chest shaking like a leaf.”

Schneider says she thinks law enforcement could’ve done a better job enforcing the fireworks.

But, Bozeman PD Patrol Captain Joe Swanson said they did the best they could.

“Starting on Friday, the 30^th until early on the 5^th, we had 700 calls for service,” said Swanson.

And 75 of those calls were firework related.

“We did respond to all of those,” said Swanson.

He says they took an educational approach this year instead of issuing folks a $500 fine or a misdemeanor.

“We did not write any citations,” said Swanson. “We gave a number of warnings to the groups we encountered and explained the new ordinance to some people who didn’t even know about it.”

Swanson says people were compliant, but Schneider says she was still seeing and hearing fireworks all over town.

“I just hope next year there’s absolutely no fireworks at all,” said Schneider. “People have to work in the morning and it’s just unnecessary.”