The table is laden with colorful novelties: The Black Panther Shuttlecraft, the Jumbo Oregon Candle and Morning Glories are 4th of July favorites, according to the teenage seller.
Some whistle, others whir, some spew sparks, others blow smoke, and all these fireworks are legal in Illinois. The state allows sparklers, smoke devices and snake pellets, for example.
All are available at makeshift stands in unincorporated parts of the northwest suburban area.
And there are fireworks in the form of anger in some suburbs near where those items are sold.
Many of the communities-including Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Des Plaines and Mt. Prospect-have ordinances or fire codes that prohibit the possession or use of even novelty-type fireworks. So though the stands sell legal items, they make Thursday`s holiday tougher for many fire officials trying to prevent fireworks-related injuries in their towns.
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Schaumburg residents ”can go right across the town lines and go in the unincorporated areas and buy them,” said Scott Sutherland, a firefighter with the Schaumburg Fire Department.
”A person could go over and buy them and where he would be wrong is bringing them into the village,” said Arlington Heights Fire Marshal Daniel Raupp. ”But how do you know? Nobody`s going to set up a roadblock. There`ll be a lot of injuries with (legal fireworks).”
Legal fireworks will cause 21 percent of the fireworks injuries this holiday if the trend of the last three years continues, according to the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
More than 280 Illinoisans will suffer some type of fireworks-related injury, according to the office, and 10 percent of the injuries are from sparklers.
Another reason villages ban fireworks is because ”it teaches kids to play with matches, and that doesn`t stop with smoking snakes,” said Deputy Chief Lonnie Jackson of the Mt. Prospect Fire Department.
Most police departments receive 100 or more complaints about illegal fireworks each Independence Day, and most villages reprimand violators and confiscate the fireworks, especially if there is only a small amount, officials say.
But some towns crack down harder on firecracker fans. In Elk Grove Village, any person lighting fireworks can count on at least a $25 ticket.
Schaumburg`s Sutherland spent two days this week ”spot-checking” stores in the village to make sure they abide by the local ordinance. So a fireworks stand in Cook County just outside the Schaumburg village limits is a volatile issue with the village`s fire protection officials.
”It`s very aggravating because we make our store owners comply,” said Sutherland. ”Every year, they`re there. Every year, same spot.”
The Cook County sheriff and the state fire marshal`s office both say the operators of such fireworks stands only need the permission of the owner of the property to sell the goods.
”It`s a gray area, what permission they need,” said Earle F. Heffley, spokesman for the state fire marshal. ”We have no way of judging the number of stands” in Illinois.
But Brian Rubinstein, who operates 10 stands in Cook and Lake County, said, ”We`ve been on some of the same corners for 10 years.”
The stands are all in unincorporated areas and supplied with fireworks from Acme Fireworks in Valparaiso, Ind., which is partly owned by Rubinstein`s father, said Rubinstein.
”We sell all safe items. All we sell is legal in Illinois,” said Rubinstein.
The family business lost a standoff in Cook County Circuit Court this week when a judge upheld the Roselle Fire Protection District`s ban on any fireworks that require a match to set them off.
Like other fire officials, Roselle Fire Chief Jim Dunagel sees fireworks sellers setting up shop in places where they can avoid strict village ordinances.
”They`ll find loopholes,” he said, ”and go sell to the people you`re trying to protect.”