The Redmond City Council moved one step closer to a permanent ban on fireworks August 12, with a 6-1 vote in favor of proposed ordinance 2026-11, prohibiting the sale, use and possession of fireworks in the city.
The Council will have a second reading, and likely a positive vote to the ordinance, at its meeting on August 25. Councilor Jay Patrick cast the only dissenting vote for the ban, which includes all fireworks except novelty items such as sparklers, smoke bombs, snakes and party poppers.
“Illegal fireworks are the issue, and we have been unable to stop illegal fireworks banned for years, so adding legal fireworks to it is not the answer,” Patrick said. “I just don’t think it’ll be effective.”
Illegal fireworks include those that go into the air, explode or behave in an unpredictable manner.
In November 2025, the Council passed ordinance 2025-21, which banned the use of fireworks except on July 4, and upped the fine to $1,500 for a first-time offense. Prior to that, the Council had enacted an emergency fireworks ban in July 2025 due to weather and wildfire conditions.
According to a report by Keith Leitz, Redmond city attorney, during the period of July 3-5 this year, the Redmond Police Department had 298 calls for service, 27 of which were associated with fireworks. There were 11 fires during that same period, with three homes destroyed and more than 25 acres burned. Additionally, a fire broke out during Redmond’s fireworks show on July 4 at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds. Police rushed to extinguish the flames, as Redmond firefighters had been redirected to the Coyner Fire, which broke out that day northwest of Redmond.
During that same period, according to Councilor John Wilson, the city of Bend reported two fireworks-related fires, including one at the site of its annual fireworks show on Pilot Butte, while the town of Sisters had none. Both of those cities have permanent bans in effect.
Devin Lewis and Tom Mooney, Redmond’s police and fire chiefs, respectively, also spoke at the Council meeting, with Lewis saying, “The police department would be in favor of a complete ban on fireworks.”
Two representatives of TNT Fireworks, which operates stands that sell fireworks during the holiday period, spoke against the ban.
Bill Rogers, area manager for TNT Fireworks, cited a “lack of enforcement” of the current ban as the real issue. “If you’re already not enforcing the use of illegal fireworks, you’re only going to be increasing the number of calls you get,” he said.
Other residents weighed in both for and against the ban. Linda Rock, a resident who lives near Dry Canyon, said she’s a retired Forest Service employee, “with most of my career in fire,” and has witnessed three fires in the Dry Canyon area. She supports the ban.
“Redmond’s growing. Our developments are getting tighter. We have 10 feet on either side between our neighbors. I don’t know if the developments that are being built now are even smaller than that,” she said. “Spokane should be a wake-up call (of) what can happen to a small city or city when you have dense housing and an uncontrolled fire that starts.”
Rock was referring to three fast-burning, devastating fires that broke out north of downtown Spokane, Washington, now known as the Spokane Complex Fires, which displaced more than 60,000 residents and, at last count, had destroyed more than 700 homes.
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