LINCOLN CITY – Police cited eight people on criminal charges in connection with a brush fire sparked by fireworks Saturday night that threatened homes overlooking the beach in a Lincoln City neighborhood.
The Lincoln City Police Department said the fire started just before 10 p.m. in the 1600 block of SW Coast Avenue and that officers found probable cause to accuse the suspects of criminal charges around 11 p.m.
Police haven’t released the identities of the eight people or specified what charges they face.
The fire occurred on the beach north of the Agnes Creek Open Space and Canyon Creek Park.
North Lincoln Fire and Rescue added in a separate statement that the blaze prompted Level 2 “Get Set” warnings in neighborhoods near the fire, but firefighters beat back the flames enough that they downgraded the evacuation notices to Level 1 “Be Ready” notices by roughly 1:20 a.m.
By 3 a.m. the fire had died down enough for most of the firefighters to leave, with only one engine remaining overnight as a precaution.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive
Ironically, with all the warnings and common-sense explanations as to why personal fireworks are such a fire danger, it seems as though there were more of them in Yachats this year than in the last few years. Is it The Brats generation? Like Cartman in the South Park cartoon show — “Whatever! I do what I want!” Are vacation rental owners doing enough to educate visitors from the valley to the fact that just because it’s the beach and ocean, doesn’t mean that it’s safe to deploy pyrotechnics?
We really need to ban fireworks completely. There are simply too many people out there lacking the brain power to use them properly.
That is part of the problem, Lee, I think there is way too much political factors involved in the use of and sales of the fire works.
Local yokels always want to make noise.
The eight people arrested were not locals. Most of them were from Portland some from Bend. They are identified in a news release in the police news section of this publication.