The West is a tinderbox right now due to dry conditions and a lack of snowfall this winter. Both wildland and local firefighters are working overtime to make sure people can safely enjoy Fourth of July fireworks.
Many local fire departments will provide lessons on safe fireworks use and disposal. Cities across Arizona are also encouraging people to attend professional displays, instead of handling fireworks on their own, because there’s a higher level of preparation and precaution involved.
The city of Tucson hosts its annual Fourth of July display at “A” Mountain. Tucson’s Deputy Fire Chief Antonio Canizales says crews are out there this week getting ready for Saturday.
“We bring our wildland crew in there in concert with the water department to get some of their resources there to wet down the area around the fireworks and we take precautions around there to not start any wildfires,” Canizales said.
Local fire departments will typically respond to five times as many brush, grass, and forest firesin the days leading up to the Fourth and after, according to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. Emergency rooms also tend to see their peak for daily visits.
Canizales says residents overall are aware of the risks.
“We tell them about the risk of injury and the fires that happened. We typically don’t get a lot of pushback. The public is very receptive to us when we kind of take a moment to kind of educate and tell them what can happen,” Canizales said.
Outside of professional displays, Arizona has outlawed all airborne and explosive fireworks to prevent fire risk and injury.
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