(Fort Wayne, IN) -- Chances are, you've heard them -- big booms in your neighborhood, now that the Fourth of July is just days away.
So what can you do about the noise so late at night?
Well, under a new statewide law, generally, fireworks can be set off any day of the year between nine a.m. and 11 p.m.
In Fort Wayne, though, you can only set them off from five p.m. until two hours after dusk... from now through July ninth. On the Fourth, from 10 a.m. to midnight.
And since anything you buy at a roadside stand should be certified by the "Consumer Product Safety Commission," it should be okay to light, whether it's labeled "out of state" or not.
Part of the attraction for some people is causing a big boom... but some people are tampering with the fireworks for a bigger effect.
And under the city's noise ordinance, police will respond to the complaint... but only after they've taken care of higher-priority runs.
"Should we arrive and the complaint is seen by the officer or heard by the officer, in violation of city ordinance, we have the discretion of either citing the party that's violating the local ordinance. Or we have the discretion of educating, and typically we will educate," says Fort Wayne Police Officer Michael Joyner.
If you are issued a citation, it'll cost you -- between $150 and $500 for every instance.
So you can call the police, but they have to catch someone in the act to be able to issue a ticket.
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