Last year’s fireworks season was during a record-breaking heat wave, the fire danger was extreme, but people used the most important piece of safety equipment – good judgement. Fireworks sales were down more than 50 percent and that was a good thing, people were showing a lot of restraint and it paid off with Vashon having an extremely low incident rate – no injuries and one small fire that was possibly caused by fireworks.

Just because we had some rain this year, doesn’t mean we can throw caution to the wind. It’s still important to find a safe place to light fireworks – away from combustible materials like trees, houses and dry lawns. The beach below the tide line is a great place to light fireworks. If you are using fireworks somewhere else, it is a really good idea to wet down any vegetation a couple of hours before you discharge to make it more difficult for a fire to start.

Keep a charged hose handy, as well as a bucket of sand. A little preparation makes a big difference in the case of an emergency. If we really do like having fireworks, we need to be responsible with them. Irresponsible use results in injuries and often local bans on fireworks. Unfortunately, areas with bans often have the highest injury rates because supplies of safe, legal products aren’t available. The best solution is safe, sober use of legal products from a state-licensed retailer.

Be considerate to your neighbors and furry friends, it is great to give people a heads up in your neighborhood before discharging to help them prepare. If the people or creatures around you are sensitive to noise, please consider quiet fireworks or an alternate discharge location. Let’s all have a happy, safe and joyful Fourth of July.

— Gabriel Felix -Vashon Fireworks Company, Vashon Island Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Robert Larsen