With a few minor exceptions, the North Olympic Peninsula experienced a safe Fourth of July celebration, virtually free of injuries and fires related to fireworks.
In some areas, officials considered it amazing considering the amount of fireworks — illegal and legal — that were used.
Port Angeles experienced the most fireworks-caused fires, and that wasn’t much, said Fire Chief Dan McKeen.
“We felt that it was a good year,” McKeen said.
The Port Angeles Fire Department responded to four fires connected to fireworks — two brush fires, a vehicle fire and a smoldering log on Ediz Hook.
One of the brush fires caused some damage to landscaping vegetation at a residence, McKeen said.
The vehicle that caught fire was in a parking area surrounded by spent fireworks.
Damp conditions cited
McKeen said the low number of fires is a result of the damp weather the region has experienced.
“Generally we see a few more,” McKeen said.
The outlying areas were similarly quiet, except for the booms and staccato firecracker reports heard throughout the night.
Clallam County Fire District No. 2, which serves the areas east and west of Port Angeles, had one call for a small, roadside fire caused by fireworks, Chief Jon Bugher said.
“I am ecstatic and pleasantly surprised,” he said, noting that the district’s firefighters were equally amazed.
“I had people calling me because their pagers must not be working because they weren’t going off.”
No emergency room visits
Olympic Medical Center is compiling a list of emergency room visits related to fireworks due out later this week, but the early results indicate there were no injuries on the Fourth, said hospital spokeswoman Bobby Beeman.
“People weren’t hurting themselves enough to go to the hospital, which is a good thing,” she said.
Clallam County Fire District No. 3, which covers the Sequim area, responded to a minor incident involving an abandoned car off River Road.
“We knew it was going to be a great one,” said Chief Steve Vogel.
“We had a lot of rain. It was nice.”
In Forks, a smoke bomb caused a small fire in a vehicle on July 3, but nobody was injured.
On Independence Day, there were no reports of houses burning, forests catching fire or people seriously injured in the Forks area.
“It wasn’t because there weren’t a lot of fireworks going off,” said Clallam County Fire District No. 1 Assistant Chief Randy Messenbrink.
Quiet in Jefferson County
A small grass fire on San Juan Avenue in Port Townsend was apparently the only reported blaze attributed to fireworks in Jefferson County.
And Jefferson Healthcare hospital reported no emergency room visits after the celebrations.
“People are being just a little bit more careful and a little more aware,” said Jill Doyle, administrative assistant at the hospital.
