Fireworks Season 2009

From left, Don Campbell, Angie Rinck and Cathy Bjerke help get the Bomber Brothers fireworks tent on the corner of Northeast 78th Street and Highway 99 ready Thursday for Sunday’s opening. n List of days and times fireworks are legal to use. n Tips for responsible fireworks use. (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

Cathy Bjerke, left, and Don Campbell work inside the Bomber Brothers fireworks tent Thursday. It’s one of 85 tents and stands spread across Clark County this fireworks season. (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

Two predictions for this year's fireworks season:

With a poor economy and Vancouver mounting enforcement patrols for a fifth consecutive year, 2009 will be a quiet year for things that whistle, pop, bang and, occasionally, burn vegetation, buildings and people.

On the other hand, with the Fourth of July falling on a Saturday, with liquor stores this year open on the holiday and with no Fort Vancouver fireworks show, it might be time to really light it up.

Which prediction will be more accurate won't be known until 85 fireworks stands across Clark County begin selling fireworks at noon Sunday.

Edward "Dominic" Rinck, one of the county's biggest fireworks vendors, believes the weekend holiday likely will have more effect on fireworks use than no Fort Vancouver show for the first time since 1962.

"I think it's an irrelevant," Rinck said. "The people who came down to the fort weren't buying fireworks for the most part."

Rinck already has a billboard up at Jantzen Beach and has taken out Columbian advertising promising an extra 25 percent off purchases during the season's first three days, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

"People want to save a buck," he said. "Times are tough, times are rough."

Despite high unemployment and other negative economic indicators, Rinck is hoping for decent fireworks sales. Gas prices are lower than they were during last summer's spike, he said.

"You always hope it's going to be good," he said. "Positive thinking."

The fireworks landscape itself is becoming more disjointed as cities enact different times when fireworks can be legally used.

Beginning this year, Vancouver won't allow fireworks use on July 5. In 2010, the city will shift to a four-day season for fireworks discharge, July 1-4.

But the big change is in Washougal, where, beginning this year, fireworks can be used only on the Fourth of July itself, from 9 a.m. to midnight.

Washougal Fire Chief Ron Schumacher said the city has printed brochures and asked fireworks stand operators to pass them out with sales.

Washougal can fine people $300 for using fireworks outside the 15-hour window on July 4, but it intends to rely more on education than enforcement.

"This year, it will be very light-handed," Schumacher said.

Warnings will be issued first, but repeat offenders could receive citations, he said.

In Camas and other areas just outside the Washougal city limits, fireworks can be used over eight days, beginning at noon Sunday and ending at 11 p.m. July 5.

Fire marshals admit that different rules in different areas can be confusing.

"It will be nice if we could get on the same schedule," Vancouver Fire Marshal Jim Crawford said. "That's all I'm going to say."

"There is certainly room for confusion," Clark County Fire Marshal Jon Dunaway said. "And that just means we are going to have to step up our public education efforts."

Fire marshals stress education in part because tight budgets have sliced their ability to have extra bodies out for enforcement.

"We are going to have people out as we can," Dunaway said. "What can I say beyond that?"

"And without showing our hand about when we are going to be out and how many are going to be out, that's about all I can say."

Vancouver will have two-person enforcement teams, a deputy fire marshal coupled with a police officer, out beginning this weekend, Crawford said.

The city, which no longer allows July 5 fireworks, intends to have special enforcement that day, he said.

Beginning in 2005, Vancouver mounted a crackdown on fireworks scofflaws. In that year, the city issued 60 citations for illegal fireworks, such as bottle rockets and firecrackers, plus another 84 for using fireworks after curfew or in city parks.

Since then, citations have dropped to 77 in 2006, 38 in 2007 and 19 in 2008.

Crawford believes the dwindling number indicates that people are behaving themselves.

"I also have to admit that when we are putting less teams on the street, less enforcement teams due to budget cuts, it is automatically going to equate to less citations," he said.

Fireworks sales to support return of Fort show in 2010

Even though there will be no Fort Vancouver show this year, there will be consumer fireworks sold to support a 2010 event.

This year's show was canceled after the Fort Vancouver National Trust, which has presented the daylong music-fireworks extravaganza, lost its primary sponsor last year.

Organizers hope to bring back a reformatted family-oriented show in 2010 that connects with the reserve's history and includes a smaller fireworks display, fired from an area near Pearson Field instead of from a barge moored in the Columbia River.

This year, the trust has cut a deal with fireworks vendors and suppliers and will receive $100,000 from fireworks sales at 14 stands displaying the 4th of July event logo.

The fireworks show has historically faced financial problems, in part because sales from fireworks are used to support the same year's event.

By operating stands this summer and using proceeds in 2010, organizers hope to get the event on more solid financial footing.

Donations for the 2010 celebration can be made online at the trust's Web site, www.fortvan.org, or at the trust office in the O.O. Howard House, 750 Anderson St.

Clark County residents wanting to see a July Fourth fireworks display can head east to Washougal's 4th of July Centennial Celebration at Capt. William Clark Park. The event will feature live music, food vendors and family events starting at 4 p.m., followed by fireworks at 10 p.m.