The county has got some much needed rain over the past few weeks and now the burn ban for Elkhart County has been lifted. The county commissioners announced that decision Monday afternoon. But in it, County Commissioner Mike Yoder explained, that they wish to give people an opportunity to shoot off any fireworks they still have because of the holiday ban.
"I've had people say their garage is just full of fireworks, waiting for us to say, shoot them off." Yoder says.
Yoder says if the weather cooperates, they're hoping to coordinate with the surrounding cities and designate the Labor Day holiday as a time to shoot off those left-over fireworks.
"We just hope it keeps raining. If it doesn't, we may be back in the same situation we were three weeks ago." Yoder said.
The Indiana State Fire Marshall's office says the county is well in it's rights to designate specific days to shoot off firework. But store owners like, Mike Pease, who's operated State Line Fireworks on US-131 says even a few days this fall can't make up for the damage already done this year.
"During the peak of the season you could see a 60-65% drop in sales." Pease said.
That peak season makes up nearly 95-% of Pease's total sales. And he says he doesn't think an extra firework weekend will make a big difference to his bottom line.
"It's a good thought, but I really doubt it. In my opinion, I might but wrong but in my opinion I don't think it will go ahead and peak the interest of the people." Pease said.
The commissioners say they are going give things a couple weeks and look at it weather wise until they announce officially what days will be designated for firework use.
