Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Why let people play with fire in the desert in July?

7/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Firefighters called this year’s July 4 holiday a perfect storm for fire danger. If so, perfection is rarely so easy to predict.

A good portion of the state near Panguitch had been on fire for days. A wet spring had left plenty of growth everywhere that hot, dry days had transformed into kindling.
​
And then the population, almost in unison, played with fire. What were we expecting?
I should know by now that the mere mention of outlawing fireworks during patriotic holidays is enough to ignite hot tempers. I have endless copies, thank you, of John Adams’ letter to his wife, in which he said he believed that, forever more, Independence Day “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.”

He actually was referring to July 2nd, which was when the Continental Congress voted to declare independence. But no matter, we have that covered in Utah, where “illuminations” take place for several days before and after the fourth.

Also, people send me long, sarcastic lists of other potentially harmful things I might want the government to outlaw, including lightning. They challenge my support of freedom in general. They accuse me of wanting the government to protect us from ourselves.

Actually, I just want it to protect me from you.

And so, I have a confession to make. I enjoy fireworks as much as anyone. No, really. I enjoy everything the Fourth and 24th have to offer, especially hotdogs and watermelon. Whenever possible, I like to take my family to join my daughter, who lives near Washington, and to sit on the grass near the Capitol and watch fireworks illuminate the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

It gives me goose bumps every time.

I just don’t understand what any of this has to do with common sense, or with fire in a hot desert.

“The Fourth of July celebrations of recent years have been insane,” solicitor N. M. Greenberger of Akron, Ohio, said. “People discharge all kinds and manner of fireworks and explosives who do not know what the day signifies.”

The quote demonstrates little, other than that this is not a new issue. He made that statement in 1908, just after someone demonstrating sparklers at Kresge’s Five and Ten Cent store in Cleveland ignited a fast-moving blaze that killed seven and injured dozens.

Cleveland quickly outlawed fireworks after that, apparently deciding lives and property were more important than outward displays of patriotism.

Back to that “perfect storm:” Firefighters in Utah have been busy since Saturday. That’s when a house near SCERA Park in Orem caught fire after fireworks landed on the roof, causing about $100,000 damage and a partially collapsed roof, according to the Provo Daily Herald. Later, as BYU’s Daily Universe reported, errant fireworks were blamed for causing extensive damage to the home of a history professor, destroying much of his Western art collection and many books.

On the fourth, dozens of grass fires broke out in Salt Lake and Davis counties. Fire crews worked on these as the sun went down and neighborhoods began erupting in their own hot celebrations. One of these, near I-80 and 1300 East in Salt Lake City, came close to the Sugarhouse Park fireworks show. Another, in Cottonwood Heights, nearly destroyed three houses before being contained.

Over in Tooele County, a young boy apparently disobeyed his mother and set off fireworks, igniting a brush fire that came within a few feet of some homes.

Unified Fire Authority Battalion Chief Steve Prokopis told the Deseret News, “For a single day, (it was) extraordinary even for us on the Fourth of July.”

No people were injured, which was as remarkable as the fact there weren’t even more such fires.

Obviously, most Utahns are responsible in the way they discharge their illuminations. Many cities passed ordinances banning fireworks in particularly vulnerable areas. But the margin for error is small under these conditions.
​
Utah is unique in that it celebrates two July holidays with fireworks. In the interim, we should ponder how little sense it makes to see a perfect storm on the horizon and not take precautions.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.