Charlottesville, VA Fire Regulations: Fireworks (2026)

City Code § 12-32(a)(5) flatly prohibits any person from having, keeping, storing, using, discharging, manufacturing, selling, handling or transporting fireworks in Charlottesville, subject only to narrow carve-outs for railroad or vehicle signaling equipment and for armed forces personnel acting within their duties. The section defines fireworks broadly to include firecrackers, sparklers, roman candles, fire balloons, signal lights, squibs, rockets, railroad torpedoes, skyrockets, flashlight compositions, or any other object containing an explosive or inflammable compound that explodes, rises into the air, travels laterally, or fires projectiles to create a visible or audible pyrotechnic effect, so the ban reaches consumer fireworks as well as professional pyrotechnics.

The one exception is a permit: the fire chief may, on application, authorize a properly qualified person to stage a pyrotechnic display of fireworks in the city's public parks or other open places, and the fire chief can attach whatever restrictions are needed in each case to protect life and property. There is no separate application fee schedule specified in this section; fees for fire prevention code permits generally are set by city council under § 12-31(c) and kept on file in the fire chief's office.

Because this is a local amendment to the Statewide Fire Prevention Code under § 12-30, the Charlottesville Fire Department, acting through its fire official, is the enforcing agency for both the ban and the permit process.