Barrow County, GA Fire Regulations: Fireworks (2026)

Barrow County Code § 89-187(1)h governs fireworks at any temporary event permitted in unincorporated Barrow County, covering festivals, fairs, carnivals, rodeos and similar gatherings that require a Planning and Community Development permit. The provision prohibits fireworks associated with a temporary event outright, with three narrow exceptions: New Year's Eve, July 4th and Memorial Day. Even on an exempted date, the display must still comply with every other applicable county and state fireworks regulation, including the licensing and use standards Georgia law places on retail fireworks sales and public displays.

general closing hour set for temporary events elsewhere in the same section. Because this rule sits inside the temporary event permit standards, it reaches organized festivals, fairs and similar gatherings that already need a county permit; it does not itself regulate a resident's private, unpermitted use of consumer fireworks on their own property, which state fire-safety law addresses separately. A festival or fair operator that plans any pyrotechnic display, even a small one, must build it into the temporary event application reviewed by the Barrow County Sheriff, Fire Marshal and Public Works Department, since a use inconsistent with subsection (1)h is grounds for denying, conditioning or later revoking the event permit.