Surrey’s fire department received no Halloween-related calls Thursday night, evidence firefighters say shows the city’s bylaw banning fireworks is working.
Deputy Fire Chief Jon Caviglia said there were no reports of fires on Oct. 31. He acknowledges there were still fireworks being set off, but nothing like there was before the bylaw was implemented in 2005.
The year prior, Surrey firefighters were called out to 90 fires caused by fireworks on Halloween, and tallied up more than $120,000 in damages that night.
Starting in 2005, a new fireworks bylaw required people to have a federal fireworks permit to purchase, possess or let off the pyrotechnics.
Meanwhile, Surrey RCMP were kept hopping on Halloween night, with about double the calls for service compared to a typical night.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet said there were 409 calls to the police for service and 374 of those required sending a cruiser. About half of those calls were Halloween-related.