Fireworks kept responders busy July 4th weekend

It was a busier than usual Independence Day weekend in Bannock County this year as officers took on the extra challenge of enforcing the county’s fireworks ban.

The Pocatello Police Department responded to 156 fireworks-related calls between Thursday at 7 a.m. and Sunday at midnight, but only issued three citations.

“If they got there and they couldn’t find who was shooting off the fireworks or they were no longer shooting the fireworks off, than they can’t issue a ticket,” said Diane Brush, a spokesperson for the department.

The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office issued no citations, but did offer a number of warnings.

“It would have taken an army to be able to take care of all the illegal fireworks,” said Sheriff Lorin Nielsen.

Nielsen said his office booked more than 60 people over the weekend, but mainly for things like domestic assault and alcohol-related offenses.

Brush said Pocatello Police received a total of more than 400 calls, including the fireworks-related ones.

On Saturday alone, the Pocatello Fire Department said it responded to 51 calls including five fires believed to be related to fireworks.

“When you have a field catch on fire for no reason, generally fireworks is gonna be related to that. We had several bushes on fire outside of homes,” said Chief David Gates.

On average, the fire department gets only 21 calls each year. Last Independence Day, they took 27 calls. That means this year’s call volume nearly doubled.

“The potential can be catastrophic. We could burn off hundreds of homes. We could have people trapped and killed,” said Gates.