In a summer of extreme drought, how safe can fireworks be in Fresno County?

Fresno, Clovis and other cities in the county allow the use of “safe and sane” fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July.

But in this summer of extreme drought and fire danger, how safe can such fireworks be?

One has to only consider the latest fire to break out in the local mountains. As of Wednesday, the Blue Fire was burning in the Sierra National Forest south of Shaver Lake, having scorched 400 acres. The flames were in a remote area and headed toward where the Creek Fire burned last year. But the Blue Fire posed enough danger that some residents had to be evacuated.

Shaver Lake, if you recall, was threatened last year by the massive Creek Fire, the giant inferno that burned nearly 380,000 acres over four months before it was controlled. Its cause has not been released.

Fireworks are likely not what started the Blue Fire; the cause has yet to be determined. Weather radar showed some lightning strikes Tuesday along the Sierra Nevada.

But without question Fresno County is experiencing an exceptionally dry year, and fire danger will linger well into the fall.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map for California shows Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties to be in the two worst levels: The Valley areas are in “extreme” drought, while the foothills and mountains are in the “exceptional” category.

With the calendar turning to July, Central California has entered its hottest time of the year. Daytime highs in the Valley will routinely be in the triple digits. Vegetation is drying out, if it hasn’t already.

Bottom line, it only takes a spark from any sort of ignition — a tossed cigarette, a careless match, a legal firework — to get a new fire going.

Illegal use

Coastal communities have long recognized the problem with fireworks. Fresno residents who own beach homes in Cayucos recently received a mailer from that town’s citizens advisory committee and Cal Fire reminding them that it is illegal to use any kind of fireworks there, even the ones labeled safe.

How much is the fine if one is caught with fireworks? A sweet $2,000 — or more.

The mailer refers to the mounds of used fireworks that get left on the beach and the pollution that causes. Here in the Valley, air impacts are paramount. The Valley already suffers from some of the nation’s worst air quality. Lighting off fireworks on the Fourth of July only makes it worse.

Fresno’s 311 line has received more than 500 complaint calls this year about fireworks — 423 of them in June. That does not include calls to police.

If a person is caught in Fresno with an illegal firework — any kind that leaves the ground and explodes in the air — the city fine is $1,250.

Fireworks shortage

As a result of supply-chain interruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, there is a national shortage of legal fireworks this year, NBC News reports. So maybe area nonprofits won’t have as many to sell as usual, and there may not be as much fire potential.

Regardless, California’s twin problems of drought and fires are forcing the issue of whether it makes sense for “safe and sane” sparklers, piccolo Pete’s and the rest to continue to be sold. Nonprofit groups would be well advised to find other avenues for raising funds.

Leaders in Valley communities really need to wrestle with this question as well. Given the intense fire danger — and abundant evidence of the damage wildfires can do — their answer should be to outlaw “legal” fireworks until such time as drought and fire conditions relent — if they ever do.

This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 12:54 PM.