Fireworks fuel fears of fires

The potential for a record number of fireworks-related fires next week in Southern Nevada is yet another thing on which to blame El Nino.

The highly publicized global weather condition that stems from the warming of Pacific waters off the coast of South America dropped a heavy amount of rain on Las Vegas last winter. And that has resulted in a large growth of desert vegetation.

"There is no doubt a lot more fuel out there," said Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach, using firefighter jargon for brush and other foliage that is quick to burn. On Wednesday, "we had our first fireworks-related fire of the season."

Leinbach's comments come on the eve of the fireworks season -- the busiest time of year for local firefighters.

On Sunday, area charities will start selling Safe and Sane brand fireworks -- the only fireworks legal in Clark County -- at booths set up outside convenience stores and service stations.

Safe and Sane fireworks, on sale through July Fourth, include sparklers, fountains, cones and some ground spinners.

Hundreds of Southern Nevadans, however, will trek to nearby counties and Indian reservations that sell the more spectacular and dangerous illegal devices, which include anything that explodes or shoots into the sky.

Each year, bottle rockets ignite fires that burn roofs and scorch desert brush, resulting in numerous responses from the fire departments. Fire officials say many illegal fireworks are poorly constructed, foreign-made devices.

While setting off fireworks is a long-standing tradition in America on Independence Day, local firefighters are urging people to take in one of many local professional pyrotechnic events instead.

One such event is the 47th annual Las Vegas Firemen's Benefit Association Fireworks Show on Thursday at Cashman Field. Tickets are $10 each and available at city of Las Vegas Fire Department stations.

In addition to the El Nino-produced shrubbery, firefighters also are concerned that this year the Fourth of July holiday falls on a weekend.

"The wetness this winter made some beautiful vegetation this spring -- especially with the wildflowers -- but now it is dried out and in some cases knee-high," Phillip Guerrero of the Bureau of Land Management said.

"It is so dry and brittle you can walk through it and hear it crunch under your feet. So naturally we are concerned (about fireworks)."

No type of fireworks -- Safe and Sane or otherwise -- are allowed on federal land, which accounts for 3 million acres in Southern Nevada.

"It is too large of an area for our handful of rangers to cover, so we depend on the sensible actions of the public," Guerrero said.

Meanwhile, in nonrural Clark County, officials say statistics this year may be similar to last year's when firefighters responded to 35 percent more calls on Independence Day than on a normal day.

Last year in the county, there were 49 confirmed fireworks-related fires compared to 37 in 1996. Still, it was down from 54 in 1995 and 75 in 1994. Last year's county fireworks-related blazes also caused $281,305 in damages, Leinbach said.

Last year in Henderson, 150 pounds of fireworks were confiscated compared with about 35 pounds in the county, but officials there admit they got lucky.

"A hundred pounds of that was in one catch when we responded to a disturbance call," Henderson Deputy Fire Marshal J.T. O'Neal said. "We work with Nellis Air Force Base to destroy what we confiscate."

Mike Cyphers, a county fire department chemical engineer, said the county generally keeps what it confiscates in a year's time for use at trials and for demonstrations for the news media, such as the one conducted last week.

Cyphers set off a number of illegal fireworks outside the main station on Flamingo Road, showing that bottle rockets don't always take off in the directions in which they were fired and that firecrackers with paper fuses sometimes explode too soon.

He had to quickly jump out of the way after igniting a string of firecrackers that went off immediately.

"With no safety fuses, these could take off a couple of fingers," he said.

Cyphers also set off a large home-made firecracker that fire officials call a "quarter stick" because it literally is a quarter stick of dynamite.

Area fire inspectors will travel throughout the valley this Independence Day weekend confiscating illegal fireworks and issuing misdemeanor citations to those caught with the devices, Cyphers said.

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