Sec.29-357-4b. Definitions

As used in the Connecticut Fireworks and Special Effects Code:

(1) "Amusement park" means an outdoor area used, maintained and operated as a place of recreation or amusement;

(2) "Applicant" means any person, firm or corporation requesting a permit to conduct a supervised display of fireworks or for the indoor use of pyrotechnics for special effects by municipalities, fair associations, amusement parks, other organizations or groups of individuals or artisans in pursuit of their trade;

(3) "ASTM" means the American Society for Testing and Materials, located at 100 Barr Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959;

(4) "Black match" means a fuse made from thread impregnated with black powder and used for igniting pyrotechnic devices;

(5) "Boxed finale" means a number of racks of mortars grouped closely together;

(6) "Break" means an individual effect from an aerial shell;

(7) "Certificate of competency" means a written assurance of an operator's qualifications, issued by the State Fire Marshal in accordance with the provisions of Section 29-357 of the Connecticut General Statutes;

(8) "Certified" means an individual certified in accordance with the provisions of Section 29-298 of the Connecticut General Statutes;

(9) "Common fireworks" means any small fireworks device designed primarily to produce visible effects by combustion, including whistling devices, ground devices containing 50 milligrams or less of explosive composition, novelty devices and trick noise makers;

(10) "Debris" means materials remaining after the discharge of fireworks or special effects, excluding non-pyrotechnic materials such as small pieces of paper, cardboard or plastic and litter left by spectators;

(11) "Discharge site" means the area immediately surrounding the mortars used to fire aerial shells;

(12) "Display" means the set up, firing or deflagration of fireworks, including ground or aerial displays;

(13) "Fair association" means an association organized for the purpose of promoting, encouraging, improving and exhibiting agricultural and mechanical products;

(14) "Finale rack" or "aboveground rack" means a row of closely spaced mortars with an inside diameter of up to 6 inches, held in a wooden frame, and similar to a boxed finale;

(15) "Fireworks" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Section 29-356 of the Connecticut General Statutes;

(16) "Fusee" means a friction match with a bulbous head not easily blown out;

(17) "Ground display piece" means a pyrotechnic device that functions on the ground, including fountains, Roman candles, wheels and set pieces;

(18) "HDPE" means high density polyethylene;

(19) "Inhabited building" means a building or structure regularly used in whole or in part as a place of human habitation, including any church, school, store, passenger station, airport terminal for passengers or other building or structure where people are accustomed to congregate or assemble, but excluding any building or structure occupied in connection with the manufacture of fireworks;

(20) "Lift charge" means the part of an aerial shell which actually lifts the shell into the air;

(21) "Mortar" means a metal, HDPE, fiber reinforced epoxy or heavy cardboard tube from which aerial shells are fired;

(22) "Operator" means the holder of a certificate of competency who fires off, discharges, or deflagrates fireworks or special effects;

(23) "Permit" means a written license, issued by the State Fire Marshal, for the display of fireworks or special effects;

(24) "Port fire" means a long tube containing slow-burning pyrotechnic composition that is sometimes used to ignite fireworks at outdoor fireworks displays;

(25) "Potential landing area" means the area over which aerial shells are fired and do not normally burst;

(26) "Pyrotechnics" means the display of fireworks;

(27) "Pyrotechnic composition" means any combination of chemical elements or chemical compounds capable of burning independently of the oxygen and atmosphere;

(28) "Pyrotechnic device" means any combination of materials, including pyrotechnic compositions that, by the agency of fire, produce an audible, visual, mechanical or thermal effect;

(29) "Quick match" means a black match encased in a loose fitting paper sheath for instantaneous burning;

(30) "Ready box" means a storage container for aerial fireworks, such as mines, comets and shells, at the site of a fireworks display.

(31) "Safety cap" means a paper tube that is placed over the end of the fuse of an aerial shell to protect it from accidental ignition;

(32) "Safety fallout zone" means potential landing area;

(33) "Shell" or "aerial" means a cylindrical or spherical cartridge containing pyrotechnic composition, a long fuse, and a black powder lift charge;

(34) "Special effects" means any article containing pyrotechnic composition manufactured and assembled, designed, or discharged in connection with television, theater, or motion picture productions, which may or may not be presented before live audiences. The definition of special effects may also encompass other articles containing any pyrotechnic composition used for education, recreation or entertainment purposes, which may or may not be presented before live audiences, indoors or outdoors;

(35) "Stage" means a partially enclosed portion of an assembly building which is designed or used for the presentation of displays, demonstrations, or other entertainment wherein scenery, drops, or other effects may be installed or used, and where the distance between the top of the proscenium opening and the ceiling above the stage is more than 5 feet;

(36) "Standard dimensional ratio" or "SDR" means the numerical designation of the formula used to determine the inside diameter of high density polyethylene by dividing the outside diameter by the wall thickness; and

(37) "Static set piece" means a ground display attached to a frame and connected with quick match for simultaneous ignition.

(Adopted effective November 24, 1999)