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Lois Henry: Fireworks neither safe nor sane for California
| Saturday, Jun 28 2008 12:08 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 30 2008 8:19 AM
I have a new title: Enemy Of Fun.
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July 3
• The KERN 1410 AM Independence Day fireworks spectacular follows the Bakersfield Blaze baseball game against the San Jose Giants at Sam Lynn Ball Park, 4009 Chester Ave. Gates open at 6:30 p.m.; game starts at 7:30. The show is included in the price of admission. Tickets are $5 to $9. 716-4487.
• Fireworks in Shafter with live entertainment and food at the Shafter High School football field, 526 Mannel Ave. Barbecue starts at 6 p.m., fireworks at 8:45 p.m. Free, but donations welcomed. 746-2600.
• McFarland fireworks show with water amusements for the kids, T-ball games, food and live music by country/classic rock band The Fugitives, at McFarland High School, 259 Sherwood Ave. Starts at 5:30 p.m., fireworks at 9 p.m. Admission: $1 children, $2 adults. 792-3187.
July 4
• Tehachapi goes all out for America’s birthday, small town-style.
The Hot Dog Festival starts with an 8 a.m. “Bun Run” 5K walk/run starting at Jacobsen Middle School, 711 Anita Drive.
Pancake breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m., $5 a plate, with games, a petting zoo and entertainment at Central Park, East E and South Mojave streets.
The children’s parade starts 11 a.m. at Jacobsen Middle School. Bratwurst, chili dogs, buffalo dogs and more will be available at Central Park.
Bullriding at the Tehachapi Rodeo Grounds on Dennison Road starts at 6 p.m., gates open at 4 p.m.
Presale is $8 children 8 to 14 and $10 adults; at the gate, $10 for children and $12 for adults. Children 7 and under free. Available at tehachapiprorodeo.com .
The annual July Fourth concert features patriotic songs, showtunes, jazz and light classical music at Coy Burnett Football Field on Tehachapi Boulevard.
Gates open 4 p.m. First band at 5 p.m. featuring traditional sing-along. At 7 p.m., the Tehachapi Community Orchestra performs. Pack a picnic dinner. Fireworks begin at 9 p.m. Admission free, donations welcomed.
• Taste of Tehachapi Food and Wine Festival, 4 to 8 p.m. on South Green Street from Tehachapi Boulevard to F Street. Features 12 restaurants, a beer garden and five local wineries. Music by Friends of Cheap Yellow Mustard.
Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Purchase tickets at the Tehachapi Farmer's Market (Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m.), Mama Hillybeans, 426 E. Tehachapi Blvd., or e-mail info@TasteofTehachapi.com. 816-0529.
• 54th annual "Red, White and Boom" Fireworks Show presented by the Bakersfield Firefighters Relief Association, with performances by Sanctus Real and 800lb Gorilla, gates open 6 p.m., concert at 6:30, fireworks at 9.
Bakersfield College Memorial Stadium, 1801 Panorama Drive. $10 to $15. $2 parking donation. Tickets available at any city fire station or jesusshack.com. 324-0638.
• Spotlight Theatre debuts “The History of Rock & Roll: Born in the U.S.A.,”a musical, at 4 p.m., with a barbecue at noon.
Presale tickets are $15 adults, $12 students with ID, seniors 50 and up and military, $7 children under 12. Barbecue purchased separately.
The musical follows the experiences of two couples, one black and one white, from the 1960s to present day.
“The History of Rock & Roll: Born in the U.S.A.” plays through Aug. 9 on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. Spotlight Theatre, 1622 19th St. 634-0692.
• Fireworks show in Taft at 8:30 p.m., Franklin Field, Highway 119 and Cedar Street. Free. 765-2165.
• Fireworks show in Wasco at dusk in Babe Ruth Ball Park, Poplar Avenue and 11th Street. Free. 758-3081.
• Independence Day Celebration in Ridgecrest starting 5 p.m. with motorcycle racing at Desert Empire Fairgrounds, 520 S. Richmond Road.
Features live music, barbecue and fireworks at 9 p.m. Free, $10 to watch racing. 760-375-2715.
July 5
• Fireworks show at Isabella Lake at 9:15 p.m., shot over Engineers Point. Free, but donations welcomed. 760-379-5236.
• “Star Spangled Spectacular” in Delano starting at 5 p.m. at Delano Memorial Park, Lexington Street and Garces Highway. $8 for meal, free fireworks show.
The Prisoners of Love, a Latin/old school dance band and barbecue by the Kiwanis Club of Delano from 5 to 8 p.m.
Fireworks begin at dusk and will be fired from the north end of Delano Municipal Airport.
Guests encouraged to bring folding chairs, blankets, or shade setups that can be carried. 725-1286.
With smoke blanketing California from so many fires, officials from the Governor to Kern County Supervisor Ray Watson are urging people to voluntarily not use personal fireworks this year.
But if you must do so, please remember that if it shoots off the ground or explodes, it is illegal.
Only “safe and sane” fireworks are legal in California.
And even some of those aren’t OK within Bakersifeld City limits.
Piccolo Pete and Ground Bloom fireworks are illegal in Bakersfield, though they’re still legal in the county portion of the metro area.
Fire officials are encouraging neighbors to report any illegal firework use by calling 868-6070 in the county and 326-FIRE (3473) in the city.
If your idea of fun is setting off combustibles that shoot sparks, smoke, magnesium, copper and barium into the air (i.e. fireworks), then yes, I’m the Enemy Of Fun.
We need to ban all personal fireworks in Bakersfield, Kern County and the entire state, for that matter.
I’ve heard all the arguments against a ban — too much government intrusion, one night of fireworks isn’t that bad for our air, it penalizes responsible people, nonprofits depend on fireworks sales for fundraising.
Sorry. None of those tip the scales for me when I compare the costs of personal fireworks.
Last year, personal fireworks caused 88 fires in Kern County and 26 in the city. Three of those city fires were full-on structures.
It’s harder to pin down fireworks related injuries. Hospitals don’t note the cause of a burn or lost finger. And people don’t tend to call the authorities if they blow out an eye using an illegal firework.
Anecdotally, I’m told by Kern Medical Center that its emergency room sees about eight to 10 fireworks burn cases over the holiday.
Please recall, though, that in 2004, Raymond Reilly III, 45, was killed by a modified legal firework. That’s a cost that can never be recovered.
Air readings from every Fourth of July since 2004 show particulate matter, known as PM2.5 — tiny bits of soot and smoke that lodge deep in lung tissue causing major problems for anyone with a respiratory condition — goes through the roof between 9 and 10 p.m. It happens all over the valley, but Bakersfield has higher readings by far.
We had been just barely squeaking under the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for PM2.5 and that standard was lowered in late 2006 by nearly half. There’s no way our air will meet the standard now, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District tells me. Firework smoke, even just one night, does not help.
The PM2.5 spike has been so consistently bad the district is going to study whether a new fireworks rule is needed. That study won’t be done until 2012. I don’t know why it would take that long to figure out that we shouldn’t needlessly add more junk to our already crummy air.
The county and city each have enforcement teams of 15 firefighters paired with 15 law enforcement personnel that try to keep up with the hundreds of calls. So many people called last year, the teams were running an hour behind.
“People are fed up with the illegal fireworks,” Kern County Deputy Chief Brian Marshall told me. The county issued 100 citations last year and seized 2,500 pounds of illegal fireworks.
But catching people using the illegal stuff isn’t easy, Fire Chief Ron Fraze said.
Unless you see someone shoot off a bottle rocket or M-80, you can’t arbitrarily check every package, especially at some of the large block parties.
I wondered why the fire departments need Johnny Law riding along since any firefighter can cite you for illegal fireworks.
Protection.
Firefighters have been threatened and assaulted (live fireworks thrown at them) by rowdy revelers who mix alcohol with their pyrotechnics.
Lovely.
And, of course, our beleaguered animal shelters can hardly handle the extra dogs running wild and crazed with fright by what sounds like a war zone. The Kern County Animal Control shelter took in about 30 more dogs last year during the July Fourth week than an average week earlier in the year.
The only real challenge to an outright ban, in my mind, is how nonprofits can make up the money they’d lose.
The city permits about 70 organizations to sell fireworks, the county permits nearly 200.
Those groups make a lot of money from fireworks sales.
I doubt there’s a way to entirely make up for that loss. But there are plenty of ideas out there such as phasing out the sales over several years to give the groups time to develop other fund-raising avenues or allowing the nonprofits to sell tickets to community shows and take a cut of the proceeds, or sell concessions at the shows.
That’s how they did it in Torrance, even expanding their community show into a daylong event.
“They make much the same or more (money),” according to Bob Gebel with the Torrance Fire Department. “There are associated city costs but...we were willing to absorb (the costs) for common sense safety.”
So far, there has only been one real champion for a ban locally and that’s Fraze.
It hasn’t won him any friends. He even got threats on his home phone. Threats!
But what a fireworks ban really needs is political leadership. After a round of phone calls to all our city council members and county supervisors, I only found one supporter.
“I would support a ban, realizing that it would need to be countywide,” said Bakersfield City Councilwoman Sue Benham. “It would not be effective to do in just the city.”
Air quality was her No. 1 issue.
“There are so many things about our air quality that we can’t control and this is one we can,” she said.
OK, so it’s Fraze, Benham and me against, oh, pretty much the rest of Kern County.
It’s a start!
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com.