Reckless and illegal: fireworks discharged without a permit over a recently cut hay field at Musicwoods Farm from Old Williamstown Road. ☛ Click to play
Rockets Over the Hay Fields
Old Williamstown Road · Post 19a of 3
What the state’s own records say about unlicensed fireworks on Old Williamstown Road — and what local authorities did about it.
Part one of a three-part series documenting public safety failures and right-to-farm violations on Old Williamstown Road, Lanesborough, Massachusetts.
A single spark landing in standing dry hay is all it takes to lose a season — or a farm.
No individuals are named in this post. The relevant road, the agencies contacted, and their written responses are identified. All characterizations of legality are grounded in the written findings of the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.
The Question Was Simple. The Answer Was Unambiguous:
DFS Licensing Response — July 22, 2024
An email from the Licensing Assistant, Division of Fire Safety, replied that while the public has the right to request copies of permits for public shows, the office did not have a permit on file for this particular event. The written conclusion:
“The homeowner purchased fireworks on his own and discharged them illegally in his backyard.”
Source: Written correspondence, Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, Division of Fire Safety, July 22, 2024. Retained in the author’s records.
The word illegally in that sentence is not the author’s characterization. It is the written determination of the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating exactly this activity.
This is not a gray area. Massachusetts has among the most restrictive fireworks statutes in the country, and the relevant provisions are direct.
Under M.G.L. Chapter 148, Section 39, the sale, possession, or use of consumer fireworks — including aerial devices and rockets — by unlicensed private individuals is prohibited in Massachusetts. The penalties are not symbolic. Anyone who sells, keeps for sale, or offers for sale fireworks in violation of this section faces a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, or imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Possession or use carries a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $100. In either case, the fireworks themselves are subject to seizure without a warrant and, upon conviction, forfeiture to the Commonwealth.
Last year, security cameras on this property and a dashcam recorded what appeared to be fireworks being transported through this farm by a pickup truck and trailer, bearing no visible required placarding or Department of Transportation markings. While retrieving my mail later that day, I observed and the dashcam recorded the same truck being unloaded at the residence where these fireworks have historically been set off. I told an officer who was driving by that this residence holds the same gathering and discharges fireworks every year, and that this was a known, recurring pattern — not an isolated event.
A separate, documented call from this same address that same summer resulted in an officer responding and speaking with the resident directly. The dispatch narrative for that call records that the resident was advised of the complaint and told the fireworks would be confiscated if police had to return. No confiscation occurred. No citation was issued. The fireworks were discharged that night, and in years prior, as described above.
Transportation on public highways of fireworks, pyrotechnic articles, and any component(s) containing pyrotechnic or explosive materials shall meet all applicable requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), 49 CFR 170 to end, and any applicable local, state, or international requirements.
Source: Massachusetts Department of Fire Services response, September 26, 2025
The Risk That Exists Regardless of What the Law Says
Old Williamstown Road, in this stretch, is a short residential spur — less than a quarter mile of paved road connecting Williamstown Road (Route 7) to Scott Road, once part of the original Route 7 alignment before the state highway was rerouted. Five households share this corridor. It is not a through road — marked Dead End, with a commercial truck weight limit of 2.5 tons. It is not a commercial zone.
A portion of this road was closed by the Commonwealth in 1979 on documented public safety and liability grounds — a decision that has remained in effect for 47 years. State-installed barriers at that closure point are not incidental: in the event of a fire or injury on this agricultural corridor, those barriers would prevent emergency vehicles, including fire apparatus, from accessing the affected area from either direction. That is not a hypothetical. It is the reason the barriers were reinforced in 1984 after a car was set afire and nearly destroyed our barn.
It is a material factor in any assessment of risk on this road. For this reason, Musicwoods Farm maintains several trail cameras monitoring for fire, hazards, and trespass — not onto the state road, which remains closed to motor vehicles but open to foot traffic, but onto the farm property itself. Prior to the the manufactured outrage that followed, those cameras documented vehicles including cars, ATVs, and motorized bikes using this corridor at speed on multiple occasions. They have captured much of the record that informs what is reported here.
A note to anyone considering the walk: we haven’t been able to mow that section in two years. The tick and mosquito populations down there have made it genuinely unpleasant. That’s a shame — for 47 years, Musicwoods Farm and Willow Hollow together maintained that corridor. It didn’t have to end up this way. The public record on the closure tells a materially different story than the characterization that has circulated among some residents of this community. That record is documented in full ☛ here.
Conclusions:
A fireworks discharge adjacent to a standing hay field is not a nuisance complaint. It is a fire hazard with documented precedent for catastrophic loss. The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services confirmed — twice, and in writing — that the activity in question was conducted without a license and without a permit. Local authorities were informed and, on at least one documented occasion, responded with a verbal warning. No citation was issued and nothing was confiscated.
If It Happens Again
This publication has already been in contact with several state officials, including the Office of the Governor, regarding the pattern documented across this series. That contact is ongoing.
If unlicensed fireworks are discharged over or near this property again — and local police decline to act or provide an inadequate response — the following steps will be taken:
- The full documented record, including both DFS written responses confirming the activity was conducted without a permit and without a license, will be submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
- The matter will be referred to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) for review of the multi-year pattern of non-response.
- We have reached out to the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation and the Governor's Constituent Services Offices for support. Their legal counsel will be updated, given this farm’s status as an active agricultural operation under Chapter 61A and M.G.L. c. 111, § 125A.
- Documented instances relevant to this record continue to be preserved on security and trail camera systems maintained by this farm, consistent with ordinary practice for an active agricultural operation.
- Documentation and press release will be made available to any member of the local or national press with a legitimate interest.
This is a statement of process, not a threat. Massachusetts law applies equally to every resident of Lanesborough. The expectation here is simply that it be enforced.
The factual claims in this article are supported by written correspondence with the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, a Berkshire County dispatch log obtained via public records request, formal public records responses retained by the author, security camera and dashcam footage, and the author’s contemporaneous firsthand observations. Where conduct is characterized as a potential violation of law, that characterization reflects the author’s reading of the cited statute or the written determination of a state agency — not a judicial finding. No court has adjudicated the underlying matters described here.
Conflict of interest disclosure: The author is a property owner directly adjacent to the activity described and is also this publication’s publisher. That dual role is disclosed here in keeping with standard journalistic practice.
The July 22, 2024 written response from the DFS Licensing Assistant and the September 26, 2025 formal public records response from the DFS General Counsel are retained in the author’s records and available for review by any party with a legitimate interest, including members of the press. The July 20, 2024 dispatch log entry referenced above was obtained via public records request to Berkshire County Sheriff’s and Communications.
Social media posts depicting fireworks at this location on multiple occasions are not the author’s documentation — they are the participants’ own. They are publicly visible and have been preserved.
Continue reading this series.
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Part 1 of 3. All statements are supported by written records, formal public records responses, security camera footage, and contemporaneous firsthand observations in the author’s possession. No court has made findings on the underlying matters described here.
— William Drescher
Musicwoods Farm · Lanesborough, MA ·
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