EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been corrected to reflect that the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has instituted a burn ban on all fires.
Law enforcement and fire safety officials are imploring residents to forgo tradition and abstain from setting off personal fireworks over the Independence Day holiday in drought-stricken Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Fireworks of the “safe and sane” variety are allowed at various days this week through Saturday in unincorporated Clallam County, Sequim, Forks and Port Ludlow.
They are allowed Saturday only in unincorporated Jefferson County and inside the Port Angeles city limit.
They not permitted at all in Port Townsend.
Jaime Smith, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jay Inslee, said Tuesday that state officials have mulled establishing a statewide fireworks ban.
But she said only the state Legislature can enact a statewide prohibition even in the face of a statewide drought emergency Inslee himself declared.
“We’ve actually been engaged in quite a few conversations with legal counsel and the [Attorney General’s] Office over if the governor has that authority, and they don’t believe he does,” Smith said.
“It’s something the Legislature will have to do.”
In declaring a drought emergency May 15, Inslee specifically cited the North Olympic Peninsula for a dearth of snow in the Olympic Mountains, where some 80 inches ordinarily would be piled high.
Instead, he said, glacier lilies are blooming.
The Port Angeles City Council approved a personal fireworks ban within the city limits earlier this year that exempts licensed public displays of the kind that will occur Saturday along the Port Angeles waterfront.
But under state law, fireworks bans do not become effective until a year after they are approved.
During vigorous public debate at Port Angeles City Council meetings, residents described some city neighborhoods as war zones over July Fourth, while fireworks defenders talked of tradition and their right to shoot off the devices.
On March 3, public testimony was evenly split, 13 for and 13 against a ban, before council members voted 4-3 for the prohibition.
“I have some concerns that this might be the last hoorah for some people, but because of the extreme fire danger, I really hope common sense prevails,” Police Chief Terry Gallagher said Tuesday.
He and other fire prevention and public safety officials in Clallam and Jefferson counties are imploring fireworks fans to lay off personal, or consumer, fireworks altogether.
They want residents to enjoy public fireworks displays that will begin around dusk July Fourth in Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Forks and Neah Bay — and leave it at that.
“We are hoping people do not use fireworks,” Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc said.
“With conditions like this, the potential for fires to get huge is incredible.”
Dubuc said dangers are expected to increase as the week wears on, with forecasts that temperatures will heat up and no rain in sight.
Don’t be fooled by Tuesday’s cooler temperatures and morning layer of bracing marine fog, Dubuc added.
“It’s just like a false sense of security,” he said.
“My understanding is this is as bad a fire condition as we’ve ever seen.
“We should respect the opinions of the professional firefighters.”
In Jefferson County, where charcoal burning and recreational fires were banned Monday, Brian Tracer, assistant fire chief for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, had a familiar three-word admonition for July Fourth celebrants.
“Don’t use fireworks,” he said.
Anyone setting off a legal firework during a burn ban could be liable, Tracer warned.
“From an investigator’s point of view, if someone utilizes fireworks during a burn ban and they were to start a fire, they would be responsible for that,” he said.
“Depending on the circumstances, that could be reckless burning.”
Tracer said anyone in an area where personal fireworks are set off should keep a garden hose handy — and a phone nearby to call 9-1-1.
Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Stanko said fireworks should be set off in a well-irrigated and otherwise watered area.
Stanko and two deputies will be doing extra duty aboard a Sheriff’s Office patrol boat from 8 a.m. to midnight July Fourth “to be sure people are obeying the rules,” he said.
“I just hope people will use their common sense,” he said.
“The biggest thing is, I would just encourage people to attend the fireworks display” at Fort Worden.
Gallagher said Tuesday more police will be on city streets Saturday, when residents can engage in one last fireworks bash before the personal incendiary devices become illegal.
Gallagher has long lamented the difficulty of enforcing the ban on use of illegal, non-safe-and-sane fireworks on July Fourth.
“I would love to see people just avoid fireworks completely this year,” he said.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict echoed the refrain.
“This is the only time in my recollection where we haven’t had rain within a week or two of the Fourth of July,” Benedict said.
“Logically, it does not make sense to me that we have a complete burn ban and people are allowed to essentially light small explosive devices out in the county where there is dry grass and dry brush.”
“I don’t think there is a safe way to use consumer fireworks that involves lighting stuff in these dry conditions,” Benedict added.
“My advice is, just don’t do it.”
Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest have instituted burn bans except for small campfires in fire rings or similar controlled devices.
The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has instituted a burn ban on all fires. Fireworks are already banned on DNR, national park and national forest land.
Clallam County and the city of Forks have also banned all outdoor burning, including recreational fires.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
