Yes, there were fireworks, but other than blaze in Lincoln City, officials report a bit calmer July 4

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

Now that the smoke has cleared from Independence Day celebrations, a window into how well the ban on most personal fireworks went is coming into focus.

While the ban on the sale and use of nearly all personal fireworks in unincorporated Lincoln County and incorporated areas such as Lincoln City, Newport, Waldport and Yachats along with the statewide ban on fireworks on beaches and state parks may have curbed their use – it certainly did not stop them.

Nowhere was that more evident than Lincoln City where fireworks set off from the beach west of Agnes Creek Open Space and south of Canyon Creek Park ignited a brush fire that threatened three homes and sparked evacuation warnings. The fire was eventually contained and eight young men now face criminal charges.

Across the county the glare and boom from illegal fireworks still lit the night sky but some community members reported anecdotally to the Lincoln Chronicle that it did perhaps seem a little less than usual.

A final tally on the number of complaints received by law enforcement over the holiday weekend has yet to be formulated but in the south county communities of Waldport and Yachats there were very few, according to city officials.

Waldport city manager Dann Cutter said there was no shortage of illegal fireworks around town July 3-4 but the city received few complaint calls and those were forwarded to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

“We had another wonderful July 3^rd celebration here,” he said. “The fireworks were fantastic and the weather gave us a perfect little sunny break and so I think a good time was had by all.”

The holiday weekend is an all-hands on deck situation for the sheriff’s office, but this year the number of deputies were increased for Waldport and Yachats which share a contract for services. Yachats enforcement Saturday was doubled to four deputies, including two on foot patrol.

The increased enforcement came at no extra cost to the cities because of the contract, said sheriff’s Lt. Karl Vertner, who said no citations were issued in Waldport or Yachats for illegal fireworks. However, deputies issued approximately 20 warnings during Waldport’s July 3 celebration and 20 during Yachats July 4 celebration, he said.

There were illegal fireworks being shot off in both cities and Bayshore, but at the Yachats River estuary beach – a particular hotbed for illegal aerial displays — the shooters were keeping them hidden until after dark, Vertner said.

“And then once it got dark, they were not able to specifically catch people lighting them off,” he said of the deputies. “They could clearly see them happening and by the time they got to the location where the fireworks were last shot from, there was nobody to hold accountable.”

Yachats officials initiated a community outreach effort prior to the holiday to inform citizens about how to report illegal fireworks on its website. City officials said Tuesday that only one complaint came in and that was from outside the city.

The city’s Facebook post on how to use its online request tracker to report or file those complaints received “a lot of love and a lot of hate” in the approximate 250 comments that were posted, said city manager Bobbi Price.

Yachats also experimented this year with a shortened 20 minute commercial fireworks show that was also featured a reduced decibel level.

“So far we have not heard anything but positive responses from the event,” Price said. “They weren’t silent, that’s for sure. But it definitely felt like it was at a lower decibel. I could tell it was not nearly as loud as it has been. It was still loud, it’s still fireworks. I felt like the show was still great.

“It was a little shorter but it was more like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” she continued. “It wasn’t like it was less fireworks, it was just a lot quicker succession.”

• Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]