My firefighting career spanned 30 years in Vancouver and Clark County. I have too many stories to relate here about the destruction and injury caused by legal fireworks. But I am also a rural landowner. We have lived on 10 acres in Venersborg since 1986, and we raised our two sons here.
They loved fireworks, but we always set them off in town — at friends’ or relatives’ houses where pavement, space and adult supervision minimized the risk. Nowadays, we stay home around the Fourth of July because of concern for our animals and property.
The aerial fireworks currently legal here are nightmares for rural folks — they are launched blindly into the night without regard for fire risk, nuisance, or common sense. The risk is real, but folks imagine that, because they haven’t had a fire or injury yet, and because these devices are legal, they must be safe.
Let’s be clear: mortars firing multiple burning projectiles aren’t safe or appropriate for our fire-prone county. And they are no safer in town. There is nothing patriotic about putting your neighbors at risk with expensive fireworks imported from China. Clark County’s pending move to requiring Class C safe-and-sane fireworks is appropriate and overdue.
