SPOKANE, Wash. — Fireworks were all the craze last night. But you might've noticed more lights in the sky in one Spokane city.
"Fireworks are legal in Airway Heights," said Nathan Whannell, the Airway Heights Assistant Fire Chief.
From 8 p.m. to midnight last night, people in Airway Heights were allowed to shoot off fireworks. But, you might be surprised to hear how many calls Airway Heights fire actually responded to.
"Probably three that were fireworks related," said Whannell.
That was two less than last year. It was one of their best nights in the last decade.
Whannell said, "This was actually one of the better fourth of July's we've had. No in my time here. Only handful of calls and it was stuff that dumpster fire somebody probably put hot fireworks in there."
It was a different story outside Airway Heights. Fireworks are illegal throughout the rest of the county.
According to the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, dispatch centers received 618 firework related 911 calls yesterday. 216 of them were within the city of Spokane. The number of calls is similar to last year when the county received 599 calls.
Justin De Reyter, the public information officer for Spokane Fire said, "I think this is the 31st year of the ban. So it's not new for people around here. But you know, there are new residents here. There's always gonna be people that want to skirt the laws.
Fortunately, there weren't any serious emergencies, just complaints.
"If we get if we get a call in, somebody's gonna go to investigate it. Most of the calls that came in yesterday were more kind of bark, just, smoldering stuff," said De Reyter.
The Spokane Fire Department did firework patrols. They issued 12 citations for illegal fireworks.
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