PARIS — Selectmen voted 3-2 Tuesday not to create an ordinance regulating fireworks in town, with Chairman Sam Elliot and Ryan Lorrain saying state law seems sufficient.

Vice Chairman Robert Kirchherr and Selectman Robert Wessels argued in favor of a town ordinance. Kirchherr said he was concerned about fire safety and noted that state law doesn’t prohibit fireworks use on days where fire danger is high.

“I think it would be negligent of us not to address it,” Kirchherr said.

Fire Chief Brad Frost said the Fire Department responded to two fireworks incidents last year. They were grass fires in Paris and Norway. Frost said he can’t give out burn permits when fire danger is rated Class 3, and sometimes doesn’t issue them on Class 2 days with high winds.

The state’s fire danger classification goes from 1 to 5, with five being the highest.

Wessels was also in favor of an ordinance to deal with fire danger, proximity to neighbors’ homes and proximity to residents livestock. He said he wasn’t often in favor of regulations, but said fireworks were an exception.

Last July, after Independence Day, several residents complained of disturbances to their families and their animals. One resident said someone had thrown firecrackers from a moving vehicle in front of her house.

Police Chief Michael Dailey told selectmen his department has received 28 fireworks complaints since July 1, 2012, and estimated that in 95 percent of calls, no state law had been violated.

“I don’t think you can legislate common sense,” Lorrain said Tuesday. He said current laws addressed safety concerns, noting that fireworks can only be set off on one’s own property. He said people who cause damage to others’ property would already be held legally responsible for damage.

Frost said both incidents his department responded to cost the department about $350, which came from the Fire Department’s budget. “We have no ordinance. We have no way we can recoup that money,” Frost said.

“I would think the person who set the fires would have to be liable,” Selectmen Gerald Kilgore said.

The board voted 3-2 to take no action on fireworks, with Kirchherr and Wessels in the minority. Selectmen agreed they could revisit the issue if there were further problems with fireworks this year.

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