The State Fire Marshal in Iowa reports that 188 licenses to sell consumer fireworks have been issued, including: 127 licenses for permanent sites, including limited quantity licenses, and 61 licenses for temporary sites. Among those granted a license for a temporary site, was Bellino Fireworks, which will operate from their location near Hy-Vee, in the Atlantic Shopping Plaza parking lot. Their license was granted Friday, June 9th, and expires in April, 2018. Sales at temporary sites will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, June 13th. The law requires every licensee to post their license at the specific location where they are selling consumer fireworks.

The Fire Marshal says an additional 39 licenses are ready to be issued upon receipt of payment, and 6 more can be issued when the inspections are completed.  There are an additional 117 applications that are currently in process because additional information has been requested to complete the application.  Although information on 1,128 sites was initially received, only 347 applications were actually filed.

Sales at permanent sites began on June 1.  The first license was issued on June 1, 2017. All sales end on July 8, 2017.Licensing includes permanent sites (buildings that meet safety standards), and temporary sites (tents, stands, or other temporary structures that meet safety standards).  Some of the sites are licensed as exempt-amount sites, which allows only a limited amounts of fireworks to be sold at that location).  Wholesalers who sell fireworks to retailers also must register with the State Fire Marshal, but wholesalers can sell only to retailers and are not permitted to sell fireworks to individuals.  There are currently 14 fireworks wholesalers that have been registered.

The list of licensed retailers is posted on the State Fire Marshal website at http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/building/licensing/Fireworks/CF-Licensed-Sites.pdf

The Iowa law allows non-profit groups to sell fireworks.  Non-profit groups can operate a site on their own, or the group can work with a licensed seller who will share profits with the non-profit group.  The licensee must be on-site if another group is selling under that license, or otherwise, both the retailer and the non-profit group must be licensed. Sellers also may choose to sell either first-class consumer fireworks or second-class consumer fireworks.  The type of fireworks will not affect the licensing, but there are different licensing fees.