Stafford County, VA Fire Regulations: Fireworks (2026)

Section 5610 of the Fire Prevention Code amendments opens with a flat prohibition: no one may manufacture fireworks anywhere in Stafford County, and any display, sale, or discharge of fireworks must comply with the rest of the section, which the Board of Supervisors adopted under Code of Virginia, Title 27, Chapter 9. Section 5610.1(a) then makes it unlawful to transport, manufacture, store, possess, sell, offer for sale, buy, use, ignite, or explode any fireworks except as the section otherwise allows, and separately bars selling or storing fireworks on someone else's property without the owner's written permission, selling to anyone under 18 unless accompanied by a parent, guardian, or responsible adult, and any sale by a minor.

Section 5610.2 narrows what can ever be approved: any firework with a quick-match fuse, that explodes, rises into the air, travels laterally, or fires a projectile other than sparks is prohibited outright, and so is any firework that throws flame or sparks more than 16.4 feet. What survives that filter can be sold only after the fire marshal approves it and issues a permit under Section 5610.3, and a wholesaler must submit five samples of each item with full specifications and a chemical analysis at least 90 days before the proposed sale date under Section 5610.4.

Retail and wholesale permits run June 1 to July 15 each year and require the applicant to carry at least $5,000,000 in combined liability coverage under Section 5610.6, while a permanent retailer's permit runs a full year under Section 5610.7. The fire marshal's office can also permit aerial pyrotechnic displays under Section 5610.9, again against a $5,000,000 insurance floor. Officers who arrest someone for a violation must seize the fireworks and hold them for any criminal proceeding, with a court ordering destruction on conviction, or destruction after 30 days if no owner can be identified, under Section 5610.10.