Firefighters urge caution with fireworks due to wildfire risk

POST FALLS, Idaho — With the Fourth of July about a week away, firefighters in North Idaho are urging residents to take extra precautions when using fireworks, citing dangerous weather conditions that could quickly turn a backyard celebration into a wildfire.

Fireworks stands open Thursday in Post Falls, where vendors say safety is among the first topics they raise with customers. TNT Fireworks employees are reminding buyers that responsible fireworks use doesn’t end when the last fuse burns out.

“After they’ve lit off their fireworks, we would ask people to soak them — whether they have a five-gallon bucket of water just available to be able to soak the fireworks,” said Joel Butler, a TNT Fireworks employee. “They retain a lot of heat and it is possible for them to ignite after they’ve been set off.”

Idaho counties sell what officials classify as “safe and sane” fireworks — devices designed to remain on the ground and not explode. But even those lower-risk products carry real danger given current conditions, according to Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.

Battalion Chief Kaipo Kuehu said his department will be fully staffed for the holiday, as it is every year, and warned that the forecast raises the stakes considerably.

“With the windy conditions that we’re going to experience, the dryer weather, there is a chance that it just takes one ember to catch a dry piece of grass or a tree or a bush on fire and then it can quickly get out of hand,” Kuehu said.

Kuehu said fireworks have created problems for his crew every summer he has worked in Idaho.

“I probably couldn’t count the number of fires that I’ve been to that were started by fireworks in our area,” he said.

Kootenai County Fire and Rescue officials say residents lighting fireworks this holiday should follow three key steps: keep a water source nearby, light fireworks away from grass, trees and other vegetation, and call 911 immediately if a fire breaks out.