Rule-abiding citizens in Greater Victoria looking to set off fireworks to celebrate the new year will only have a few places where they can do so without incurring high costs.
Out of the region’s 13 municipalities, only Metchosin allows for fireworks on New Year’s Eve without a permit until midnight.
Any fireworks permit in Victoria requires a $100 fee and applicants to obtain liability insurance coverage of at least $5 million.
In Oak Bay, there’s a three-week processing period for a $50 consumer fireworks permit.
Saanich, Colwood, Langford, View Royal, Sooke and the Highlands issue permits for those who have passed a fireworks safety course, but only for five hours on Halloween night.
Sidney and Central Saanich require fireworks permits to be submitted two weeks in advance, and have no date restrictions on when fireworks can be set off.
Following complaints from the public, Esquimalt barred residents from setting off fireworks in 2020. Concerns about noise, pollution and fire hazard are frequently cited by those who want to see fireworks banned from celebratory days.
There are no public fireworks displays in the capital region to mark the arrival of 2024.
The last time Victoria saw a large public fireworks display on New Year’s Eve was in 2016.
Fireworks were part of Sidney’s First Night celebrations at the Panorama Recreation Centre as recently as 2017, but the municipality has eschewed New Year’s Eve celebrations in favour of a polar bear swim on Jan. 1 since the pandemic.
The retail sale of fireworks is banned in Greater Victoria.
But fireworks can be easily purchased outside municipal boundaries or delivered, and the sound of pyrotechnics will likely be heard in many supposedly fireworks-free municipalities tonight as the new year approaches.
One prominent fireworks retailer in Coombs said on its website that they would be open from 10 a.m. until “last customer.”
