Rash of fires ignited by illegal fireworks

The Fourth of July holiday sparked more than half a dozen fires, all caused by illegal fireworks, Fire Chief Phil Gridley said Thursday."So far," he said, "we had at least eight fires caused by illegal fireworks."

The police department was run ragged Wednesday responding to complaints of illegal fireworks, but the number of citations issued was not immediately available.

In one case, firemen responding to a fire near the grain bins off Bypass Road, confiscated more than $500 worth of illegal fireworks, all of which were bought at the fireworks store off Simco Road that Gridley has complained about repeatedly over the years.

These fireworks, all illegal, were confiscated from a group of airmen who accidentally sparked a fire off Bypass Road with them.

The Fat City fireworks store does sell fireworks that cannot be legally used in Idaho, but they comply with Idaho law by having any person who buys fireworks that don't fall under Idaho's "safe and sane" law to sign a form saying they will not use them in the state.

That loophole in the law has Gridley, most of the fire chiefs in the state, and the state fire marshal's office seeking legislative changes in the law. "When people call to complain about illegal fireworks in their neighborhood," Gridley said, while the police certainly are one place to call, in addition, "they should call their legislator."

"Fat City (and other, similar operations in the state) could just as easily sell 'safe and sane' fireworks," Gridley said, "but this is all about putting money in their pocket."

Each time his fire department gets called out, it costs the taxpayers approximately $1300-$1500, Gridley said. That meant the day's activities for his department cost approximately $9,000 to $12,000. When caught, people can be billed for the cost of the fire suppression effort for any fires they start.

Gridley noted it is often difficult for police to respond quickly enough to catch everyone who uses illegal fireworks, essentially anything that blows up or is shot into the air. The police, he said, "can see them go off, but they can't always tell where they're coming from."

"Every year, I go to the schools and teach fire safety. But then for two weeks out of the year it's like everyone gets a free pass," Gridley said.

"We came across one guy the other night who had his six-year-old son setting off bottle rockets while he watched. Things like that just blow my mind," he said, pointing out several people in Idaho have already been injured this year due to illegal fireworks.

Almost all of the fires handled on the Fourth of July by the city's firemen occurred between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. Even during the fire department's firework's show at the golf course, fire crews held on standby responded to one small fire. One of the fires Wednesday, Gridley said, near Pleasant Acres, had the clear potential to threaten nearby homes "if there had been any wind at all."

Besides the calls to put out fires started by fireworks Wednesday, the crews at the golf course working the fireworks show had to put one out they started themselves, when some of the embers from one of their fireworks landed in dry sagebrush.

However, there were fewer problems with the crowd on the golf course itself, this year, Gridley said, with almost everyone obeying the request that no personal fireworks be shot off there.

Police, however, did receive some complaints about people setting personal fireworks off late at night, past midnight. City ordinances do not place any time limit on when personal fireworks can be used.