Want to shoot off fireworks on New Year's Eve? In Southcentral Alaska, it depends on your coordinates.
Laws for use of fireworks on private property vary among Alaska's boroughs, cities and municipalities, but no personal-use fireworks are permitted on state and federal land, according to John Bond, supervisor of the state's Life Safety Inspection Bureau.
In Anchorage, the municipality has banned all fireworks, including sparklers, year-round. At one time, Anchorage permitted fireworks for New Year's, but that ordinance expired in 2012. Now, if private fireworks are spotted by Anchorage police officers, the user could face up to a $500 fine, according to Jennifer Castro, police spokeswoman.
But just to the north in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, personal-use fireworks are permitted on private property on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with some cities and towns -- like Houston, Palmer and Wasilla -- opting for their own hours for pyrotechnics.
• In Houston, fireworks are legal 365 days a year, but for six days around New Year's Eve, they are legal for longer hours. Normally, fireworks use is permitted between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., but between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3, they're allowed from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., according to Christian Hartley, a captain with the Houston Fire Department.
• In Wasilla, the city has given the go-ahead for fireworks from 6 p.m. New Year's Eve to 1 a.m. New Year's Day, as long as users are farther than 250 feet from health care facilities, assisted living facilities, libraries, schools and places of worship. They also must be more than 50 feet from lakes and waterways, and more than 500 feet from any facility where flammable liquids or gases are stored, Hartley said.
• In Palmer, the city has the same distance specifications, but shorter permissible hours. Fireworks are allowed from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on New Year's Eve.
• In the rest of the Mat-Su Borough, fireworks can be used between 6 p.m. New Year's Eve and 1 a.m. Jan. 1, as long as they're 1,250 feet from any health care facilities, assisted living facilities, libraries and schools, as well as more than 500 feet from any facilities that store flammable liquids or gases.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough, like Anchorage, outlaws fireworks use all year, according to Wes Perkins, fire marshal for Central Emergency Services.
Given the wide variation on what's legal and when, Beth Ipsen, Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman, advised checking with local governments before using fireworks to welcome 2015.