Carroll County, MD Fire Regulations: Fireworks (2026)

072 bars anyone in a park from bringing, possessing, setting off, or otherwise causing to explode, discharge, or burn any firecracker, torpedo, rocket, sparkler, or other fireworks or explosives of inflammable material, and it closes an obvious loophole by also banning throwing or discharging those items into a park from land or a highway adjacent to it. The section adds a catch-all covering any substance, compound, mixture, or article that in conjunction with any other substance or compound would be dangerous in the same way, so an item does not have to be a classic firework to trigger the ban if it is explosive or highly combustible.

This rule traces to the original 1988 Parks Ordinance (2004 Code § 155-23, Ord. 71, passed 11-10-1988) and has not been separately amended since. 074's fire rule, which confines campfires and cooking fires to Manager-designated areas and bans dropping lit matches or cigarettes anywhere in a park, so together the two sections give park staff authority over both open flame and combustibles. Because this is a Chapter 94 park rule, it applies only to county-owned park land in the unincorporated area; a private fireworks display on someone's own property, or a display inside an incorporated town like Westminster, falls under the state Fire Prevention Code and local fire marshal rules instead, not this section.