After a couple of months punctuated by the booming of fireworks, a handful of fed-up Fort Dodge residents went to the City Council Monday evening to demand action.

One of those residents reported that holes were burned into the roof and siding of her home by fireworks launched by neighbors.

Another resident, Victoria Johnson, of 940 S. 22nd St., summed up the situation by saying, “This is getting ridiculous.”

The most heated exchange of the evening came when Councilman Kim Alstott said that a combat veteran who was visiting him on July 4 became so unnerved by the fireworks that he asked to go back inside the house.

Mike Devine, of 923 Fourth Ave N., quickly went to the podium and said, “I vigorously protest the use of veterans in this debate.”

Devine identified himself as a Navy veteran and said he knows many veterans with post traumatic stress disorder.

Councilman Jeff Halter asked Devine if he was authorized to speak for all veterans, and Alstott quickly added that he was upset with Devine.

As the voices of the three men grew louder, Mayor Matt Bemrich ended the debate by yelling: “Stop. We’re done.”

The council took no action on fireworks Monday. Bemrich said the council will hold a workshop discussion on fireworks in the near future. Any action on further regulating fireworks in the city would come after that meeting, he added.

“I’ve gotten calls and complaints from everywhere in our community,” Bemrich said. “Some people are still not behaving very well.”

But he added that many people complied with all the rules when they launched their fireworks.

“There’s a lot of people who enjoyed it and did it within the parameters of the law,” he said.

“If people would be good neighbors this would not be such an issue,” he added.

Fireworks became legal in Iowa last year for the first time since the late 1930s. The state law legalizing fireworks gives cities the power to limit when they can be used, but it prohibits cities from limiting the sale of fireworks.

“It’s a broken piece of legislation,” Bemrich said.

He urged everyone at the meeting to contact their state legislators about it.

In Fort Dodge, fireworks can be used from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. July 1-3. They can be used from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. July 4. Those restrictions were imposed after hundreds of complaints about fireworks were received last year.

But some residents who addressed the council Monday said they heard the fireworks explosions at least a month before any fireworks could be legally used.

Angela Dencklau, of 1027 15th Ave. N., told the council that her neighbors’ fireworks damaged her property. She said the neighbors had “a big fireworks party” on July 4. She said the next day, she spent five to six hours cleaning up the fireworks debris that landed on her property. She said she had to go on the roof with a leaf blower to the remove the debris there.

She said she found holes in the roof and the siding of the house caused by fireworks. The neighbors, she said, have offered to pay for the repairs.

Sue Hulett, of 12th Avenue Southwest, again asked the council to ban fireworks. She made the same request last year.

“Life is too short for all this noise,” she said.

Johnson said she believes the fireworks noise has actually gotten worse. She said a dispatcher hung up on her when she called police Sunday night to complain about fireworks.

Bemrich said Police Chief Roger Porter would investigate how her call was handled.

Seven people complained about fireworks to the council Monday. Devine was the only person who spoke in favor of fireworks.

“Fireworks aren’t a plague,” he said.

He also said that speakers at the meeting were implying that people who use fireworks are “idiots.”

Bemrich said no one at the council table referred to anyone as idiots.

However, Linn Simpson, of 1013 N. 13th St., didn’t shy away from using the word idiots when referring to some people who use fireworks.

“They’ve lost all common sense and in some people’s books, that makes them idiots,” she said. “You have to start somewhere to start bringing common sense back.”