Bristol, CT Fire Regulations: Fireworks (2026)

Section 16-2(e)(1), the 'Dangerous devices' provision of Bristol's park conduct ordinance, prohibits possessing an illegal firearm in any city park and bars anyone other than a police or security officer from openly carrying even a legal firearm there. The same sentence extends the ban to discharging or possessing a firearm, firecracker, firework, bow, cross-bow, or a BB or pellet-firing air gun that expels a metallic or paint-contained projectile using air pressure, covering everything from bottle rockets to sparklers used loose in a park to hunting bows.

The ordinance carves out two narrow exceptions: the display of fireworks conducted under municipal authority, such as a city-sponsored show, and any activity the Board of Park Commissioners specifically authorizes or confines to a designated area. Outside those two situations, there is no private-use exception for the Fourth of July or any other holiday inside a Bristol park. The chapter also separately restricts knives with blades over one and one-half inches or four inches depending on type under Sec. 16-2(e)(2), showing the fireworks ban sits within a broader weapons and dangerous-devices article.

Enforcement runs through Sec. 16-5, which assigns Bristol Police Department officers and Parks Department Park Ambassadors to inform violators and take enforcement action, and Sec. 16-6 lets officers issue a citation under the Code's general procedure in Sec. 1-11. Sec. 16-8 sets the penalty for any Chapter 16 violation, including this one, at a ninety-dollar infraction, separate from any additional charge under state fireworks or firearms law for possessing prohibited devices in the first place.