St. Louis police will target parents who allow their kids to illegally set off fireworks in the city over the holiday weekend.
The effort to hold “parents responsible for being bad parents” is new this July Fourth, said Mitch McCoy, director of public affairs and information for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
“Our message is crystal clear: Parents, you will be held responsible for the behavior of your children,” McCoy said. “There is going to be absolutely no excuse.”
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.
“And if you don't pick your child up within 45 minutes, you'll be cited for that,” McCoy said.
Uniformed and plainclothes police officers will be out in larger numbers than in 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 posted on social media asking people to leave fireworks to the professionals, as many homes still have tarps on roofs and piles of exposed debris.
“We've had extremely hot weather,” McCoy said. “Things 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.”
Fireworks are illegal to set off without a permit in St. Louis and St. Louis County. In St. Charles County, fireworks can be discharged between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. July 2 through July 5 and between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. on New Year’s 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 state fire marshal’s office. 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 analysis of trade data 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, after Missouri.
There will also soon be changes in Missouri’s fireworks laws. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill into law 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.
