Sublette County Unified Fire provides firework displays
by Sublette County Unified Fire
July 5, 2017
During the recent July 4th fireworks display in Pinedale, firefighters from Sublette County Unified Fire experienced a potentially serious incident while igniting fireworks. The incident occurred about halfway through the planned fireworks display.
After firefighters ignited one of the large fireworks shells, the shell detonated inside the mortar rather than travelling skyward. This shell caused damage to the surrounding mortars and lit multiple fuses of the adjacent mortars simultaneously. These adjacent shells ignited instantaneously and multiple ground level shells detonated in the area. This incident caused a small spot fire near the cemetery.
No serious injuries occurred and only minor damage resulted to one of the volunteer firefighter’s vehicle.
Fire Chief Shad Cooper stated, "Firefighters quickly initiated our safety plan at the ignitions area and they also initiated the emergency response plan for the spot fire."
Each year the fire department establishes a safety zone to keep spectators away from the hazardous ignitions area. Chief Cooper explained, "This safety barrier is very important because of exactly this type of situation."
Every year the Towns of Big Piney/Marbleton, and Pinedale purchase the fireworks for their communities. Chief Cooper stated, "Our volunteer firefighters donate their time to setup and provide the safe firework displays for everyone to enjoy. We would like to recognize our volunteer firefighters for their proactive planning that provided a successful firework display again this year. This could have been a very serious incident that instead worked out well because of everyone’s efforts."
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