West Metro Fire District's new campaign seeks to prevent 4th of July fires by asking communities to pledge to be "No Fireworks Neighborhoods."
If a neighborhood signs up, its residents agree to put up street signs warning of the dangers of fireworks. Plus, a West Metro fire truck will show up for the neighborhood parade.
“It's sort of an 'on your honor' at that point, said Bruce Kral, West Metro's fire marshal. "You’ve got to agree to put those signs in your neighborhood for us to participate in your parade."
Going against the pledge will not result in any criminal repercussions, unless the fireworks are illegal, which may result in police involvement.
Fire bans across the state of Colorado are expected to last beyond July 4.
“I can’t emphasize enough that something happens every year to somebody, and it can go wrong so fast," Kral said.
Last year, there were six fires caused from fireworks around the 4th of July in West Metro's district.
At least six neighborhoods have signed up for the campaign so far.
“We’re very concerned about fires this year especially," said Chris Pacetti, executive director at Ken-Caryl Ranch. "But we’ve long been concerned about fires from fireworks, and unfortunately we have a lot of fireworks shot off around the 4th of July time.”
Littleton's Ken Caryl neighborhood has 13,000 homes and 4,000 acres of open space. Some of the trees are still growing back from a human-caused fire in 1978. That fire, the Mulphy Gulch Fire, burned 3,330 acres just west of the neighborhood.
"And now all these homes are here and all these people live here, and a fire like that could be devastating," Pacetti said.
West Metro Fire District covers more than 108 square miles in two Colorado counties -- Jefferson and Douglas. It serves about 280,000 residents and has crews at 17 fire stations.
