Here are some good reasons — lots of reasons — to forgo buying consumer fireworks this Fourth of July.
18,500: That’s the annual average number of fires caused by fireworks in the U.S. between 2009 and 2013, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Two: The annual average number of deaths caused by fireworks in the U.S. between 2009 and 2013, according to the association.
10,500: The number of fireworks-related injuries that were treated in hospital emergency departments across the United States in 2014, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
$1,000: The fine you’ll pay for discharging firecrackers, bottle rockets, missiles and skyrockets on lands outside the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Suquamish reservations. Possession or discharge of an M-80, a cherry bomb, a tennis ball bomb or a legal firework that has been altered is a felony subject to a fine and/or imprisonment.
Five: The number of professional community fireworks displays in Kitsap County, beginning July 3 and continuing through the end of the month. These events are free and most fireworks shows are preceded by contests, games and live entertainment.
The fun begins at Poulsbo’s 3rd of July Celebration (www.thirdofjuly.org). Fireworks begin at 10:15 p.m.
On the Fourth of July, fireworks displays begin at dusk on Bainbridge Island, the Arnold Jackson Memorial Fireworks Display over Eagle Harbor (www.bainbridgefireworks.org); Kingston, over Apple Tree Cove (www.kingstontinytown.com); Port Orchard; and Bremerton (www.fathomsofun.org/Events/index.html#).
The celebration of our nation’s independence continues later this month during Silverdale’s Whaling Days Celebration (www.whalingdays.com), with fireworks scheduled at 10 p.m. Friday, July 29 over Dyes Inlet.
Enjoy the Fourth of July, and do it safely. And remember the price paid for our nation’s independence from 1775 to 1783. At least 25,000 American patriots died — 6,800 in battle, 17,000 from disease or starvation while prisoners of war. According to one online history: “Proportionate to the population of the colonies, the Revolutionary War was at least the second-deadliest conflict in American history, ranking ahead of World War II and behind only the Civil War.”
