Illegal Fireworks Displays Leave Truckloads Of Beach Trash

SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Public works employees say they found two truckloads worth of fireworks debris at a Maine beach in apparent contempt of current prohibitions on beach fireworks.
 
Spent fireworks canisters, busted beach chairs, plastic bits and other remnants were found strewn across Pine Point Beach in Scarborough early Thursday. The Portland Press Herald reports town officials say they have a perennial problem around the Fourth of July trying to enforce the fireworks ban.
 
Residents say a lot of the debris ended up in the water and can impact the region's federally protected piping plover bird population.
 
The Scarborough Town Council allowed fire code-regulated fireworks stores after the Legislature legalized the sale and use of consumer fireworks in 2011.
 
Town Manager Tom Hall says fireworks have been a problem at other area beaches.