St. Louis police will target parents who allow their kids to illegally set off fireworks in the city this year.
The effort to hold 鈥減arents responsible for being bad parents鈥� is new this July 4, said Mitch McCoy, director of public affairs and information for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
鈥淥ur message is crystal clear: Parents, you will be held responsible for the behavior of your children,鈥� McCoy said. 鈥淭here is going to be absolutely no excuse.鈥�
McCoy said juveniles caught with fireworks will be detained and held. Police will then call parents to pick up their children, and the parents will be cited. McCoy said there are multiple possible citations on the table, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and discharging fireworks.
鈥淎nd if you don't pick your child up within 45 minutes, you'll be cited for that,鈥� McCoy said.
Both uniformed and plain clothes police officers will be out in larger numbers than past years during the holiday weekend, McCoy said. The extra officers will be throughout the city.
This year, city officials are especially worried about fireworks catching tornado-damaged homes and leftover debris on fire in north St. Louis.
The St. Louis Fire Department asking people to leave fireworks to the professionals, as many homes still have tarps on roofs and piles of exposed debris.
鈥淲e've had extremely hot weather,鈥� McCoy said. 鈥淭hings are more dry, and there are a lot of tarps on homes. So we need everybody to step up as a community and watch out for each other.鈥�
Fireworks are illegal to set off without a permit in and . In St. Charles County, fireworks can between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. on July 2 through July 5 and between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. on New Year鈥檚 Eve. Some municipalities within the counties may have different laws.
Last year, 328 people sought hospital care because of fireworks injuries in Missouri, with about 80% of those injuries happening from June 21 to July 11, according to the . Missouri law allows fireworks tents to begin sales two weeks before Independence Day.
Missouri imports the largest value of fireworks of all U.S. states, according to an by ValuePenguin, an insurance company. Missouri imported more than $85 million in fireworks in 2024. The next-highest state was Ohio, with almost $40 million in imports. Per capita, Kansas is the second-highest importer.
There will also soon be changes in Missouri鈥檚 fireworks laws. Gov. Mike Kehoe that will give the State Fire Marshal more oversight over fireworks, tighten requirements for permitting and require fireworks warehouses in some locations to submit construction plans to the state.
