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Holiday Fireworks Damage Homes

Fourth of July Fireworks are being blamed for triggering grass and structure fires in northern Utah. The damage was still being tallied on Wednesday.

A blaze started by fireworks prompted two people to jump from a third-floor apartment balcony in Midvale, and now 100 people have been displaced. The Unified Fire Authority suspects fireworks also started a grass fire that caused property damage at three Cottonwood Heights homes.

“It was scary,” said Cottonwood Heights resident Chuck Lewis. “But it’s not the first time it happened here.”

Lewis and his wife were on the backyard deck watching fireworks in the valley. Behind them, they also noticed family fireworks across the grassy landscape. And soon wind was carrying flames their way.

“Fires go faster than what you think they’re gonna do,” recalls Margo Lewis. “And the first thing I thought is: ‘Get the dogs, my purse’.”

The Lewis’ drove down the hill and watched the flames. The fire destroyed their bird coop and some trees but stopped short of their home.

Their next-door neighbors weren’t so lucky. The fire melted siding on their house and some trees caught fire.

Credit Judy Fahys / KUER News
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KUER News
A firefighter checks the scare of a wildfire that swept across an 11-acre open space in Cottonwood Heights. Fireworks were banned in the area, but the fireworks are suspected to be the source of the fire that caused damage at three homes.

“It’s just too dangerous with how dry it’s been, and then you get these canyon winds that come down,” says Mary Burt, who stopped by Wednesday to check the damage to the home where she’d grown up. She says her mother and brother had gotten out safely, but her family has always worried about fireworks because of that open space.

“It’s literally a recipe for disaster – especially when people are doing them in areas like this, where they’re completely ignoring the signs that it’s banned.”

Like the Lewis’, Burt sees no reason for backyard fireworks in the summer, and she wants to see bans enforced.

Fireworks are banned on state and federal lands. And the best way to learn more about the fire restrictions in your area is to call your local fire department.

Judy Fahys has reported in Utah for two decades, covering politics, government and business before taking on environmental issues. She loves covering Utah, where petroleum-pipeline spills, the nation’s radioactive legacy and other types of pollution provide endless fodder for stories. Previously, she worked for the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, and reported on the nation’s capital for States News Service and the Scripps League newspaper chain. She is a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She also spent an academic year as a research fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her spare time, she enjoys being out in the environment, especially hiking, gardening and watercolor painting.
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