Drought raises fireworks fears across the West — Aurora OKs sanctioned July 4 pyrotechnics

Many Americans aching for normalcy as pandemic restrictions end are looking forward to traditional Fourth of July fireworks. But with a historic drought in the U.S. West and fears of another devastating wildfire season, many officials are canceling displays, passing bans on setting off fireworks or begging for caution.

Aurora is bucking the trend this year after a few years of snuffing the “legal” varieties of pyrotechnics on sale now at fireworks stands in the city and some unincorporated communities in the region.

Fireworks already have caused a few small wildfires, including one started by a child in northern Utah and another in central California. Last year, a pyrotechnic device designed for a baby’s gender reveal celebration sparked a California blaze that killed a firefighter during a U.S. wildfire season that scorched the second-highest amount of land in nearly 40 years.

Local fire officials earlier this month allowed residents to use certain fireworks through July 4 as part of the city’s limited, annual allowance on celebratory pyrotechnics.

Since 2017, Aurora officials have allowed terrestrially bound fireworks to be sold and used in Aurora for the final two weeks of June and the first four days of July. Any devices that shoot into the sky, such as firecrackers, bottle rockets and roman candles, remain disallowed.

Denver and most suburban cities have outlawed all at-home fireworks for years, yet scofflaw use has long been widespread.

Anyone found in violation of the city’s fireworks rules could be slapped with a fine of up to $2,650 and a jail sentence of up to one year.

More staid devices like sparklers and cones have only been permitted in Aurora twice since local lawmakers lifted a decades-old ban on all fireworks four years ago. Fire Chief Fernando Gray issued edicts snuffing all fireworks use in the city in both 2018 and 2020 due to dry weather conditions.

The devices were last allowed in 2019.

Fire officials received 1,987 complaints of fireworks between July 1 and July 4, 2020, which marked a roughly 120% increase from the 901 such complaints received over the same time frame last year, fire officials said in public meetings last summer.

Drought conditions in Aurora and across much of the Front Range have been largely ameliorated following an an unusually rainy spring and another bought of rainy weather, though extreme drought designations still abound west of the Continental Divide.

Some regions of the American West are experiencing their worst drought conditions in more than a century this year, said Jennifer Balch, director of Earth Lab at the University of Colorado. People setting off fireworks at home is a concern because of both the tinder-box conditions ripe for starting wildfires and the threat of injuries. Last year, injuries spiked to their highest level in 15 years after the pandemic canceled large gatherings, federal data shows.

“As a fire scientist, I’m bracing myself for this fire season because of how dry and hot it is already,” Balch said. “I think fireworks right now are a terrible idea.”

Fireworks industry professionals, who also stressed caution in drought-prone areas, expect strong sales despite a shortage caused by pandemic-related manufacturing slowdowns and trade disruptions.

“We think we’re going to have a tremendous year,” said James Fuller, a fireworks safety expert with Alabama-based TNT Fireworks.

While fireworks are integral to the country’s Independence Day celebrations, they ignite thousands of fires a year — including one that burned Bobbie Uno’s home in Clearfield, Utah, on the holiday last year. She had to jump out of the way before it struck the side of her house.

“Within five seconds, my house, from the bushes to the rooftop, it was burning,” Uno said. The blaze caused $60,000 in damage and forced her family out of their home for weeks.

“I want everyone to be aware of the danger, because it’s scary even in a small cul-de-sac,” Uno said.

Several Utah cities are banning people from setting off their own fireworks this year during the record drought, but many Republicans are against a statewide prohibition. GOP Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton supports restrictions but thinks this year is a bad time for a blanket ban.

“We’re just coming out of this pandemic where people already felt like government was restricting them in so many ways,” she said. “When you issue bans arbitrarily, we could have a situation where people who weren’t going to light fireworks purposely go and buy fireworks to just send a message to government.”

State fireworks laws vary considerably across the U.S., but local bans on personal fireworks are popping up from Montana to Oregon, which was stricken by massive wildfires last year.

In Arizona, which already is being scorched by more than a dozen wildfires, many cities have canceled their public fireworks shows. The Yavapai-Apache Nation typically hosts a display outside its casino near the central Arizona city of Camp Verde.

“This year, with conditions being worse than last year, we decided in May that we would not have fireworks,” said James Perry, a spokesman for the tribe’s Cliff Castle Casino Hotel. “Based on the large fires currently burning in and around our community, we’re happy with our decision.”

It’s a similar story in Colorado, where dozens of shows have been scuttled, including in Steamboat Springs, a ski town where firefighters are already spread thin.

“The grass always catches on fire … why are we doing something that causes fire when fire’s our biggest issue?” said Winnie DelliQuadri, town special projects manager.

But in neighboring Wyoming, business is booming at fireworks stores, including sales of products prohibited elsewhere. The parking lots fill on weekends, and many cars have out-of-state plates.

“It’s not just Colorado,” said Ben Laws, manager of Pyro City. “We see people from Nebraska, we see people from Montana, we see people from all over coming to buy.”

Other cities, including Boise, Idaho, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, are working to ban personal fireworks while keeping their public displays, where safety precautions are often stronger and firefighters are on alert.

In North Dakota, where more than two-thirds of the state is in extreme or exceptional drought — the two worst categories — some areas are passing local bans. In South Dakota, where conditions are somewhat less dire, the governor is fighting the federal government to hold a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.

A show that draws tens of thousands of people to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, near the California state line, was originally canceled for the second year in a row, but organizers later decided to mount a “smaller, safe fireworks experience.” Holding fireworks shows over water is one of the safer ways to celebrate, said Balch, the professor.

The industry urges people lighting their own fireworks to follow local restrictions, pick a flat location a safe distance from homes, have a water source at hand to douse used products and dispose of them carefully.

Some safety officials would rather see people avoid lighting their own fireworks all together. Michele Steinberg with the National Fire Protection Association pointed to federal data showing 15,600 Americans went to emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries last year, thousands more than the year before.

“I love watching the fireworks displays, but they’re honestly not safe in consumer hands,” she said. “Even a sparkler can get up to 1,200 degrees, which is actually how hot a wildfire burns.”

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Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Cedar Attanasio in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada; and Associated Press/Report for America corps member Patty Nieberg in Denver contributed to this report.