Legal fireworks use didn’t swamp local responders

MAT-SU — If you spent anytime in the core area of the Valley on New Year’s Eve, you’re probably well aware of just how many of your neighbors chose to celebrate with fireworks.

“It was widespread. It was all over the Valley,” is how Palmer Police Department Commander Tom Remaley summed it up.

“I know it kept me up until 3 o’clock in the morning. Fireworks were going off all around my house,” said West Lakes Fire Chief Bill Gamble.

But as far as reports from police and fire departments go, the Valley mostly behaved itself and used fireworks safely.

“We didn’t have any major injuries that occurred because of fireworks,” Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said.

“We thought that the fireworks went very well, everybody was very responsible, we didn’t have any calls from people using fireworks improperly or any accidents with them,” Gamble said.

Remaley said the only calls Palmer received pertained to people setting off fireworks after the 1 a.m. deadline, which is when the law says fireworks need to be put away. Officers went out to remind people of the deadline, Remaley said.

“We had zero calls in Houston and there was nothing at the (fireworks) stands either,” said Houston Fire Department spokesman Christian Hartley.

Houston, where it’s legal to sell fireworks, is kind of the ground-zero for all of this. Gamble said that on his way home on Friday traffic was backed up all the way to Wasilla with folks heading north to purchase pyrotechnic treats.

Hartley said the fire department actually directed that traffic.

“We were not directing traffic in the highway we were only directing traffic in the parking lots to keep the highway from backing up,” Hartley said. “We had pre-planned it and everybody had sat down — the mayor, the fire department the police department — everybody had all sat down and talked to DOT about our options and planned the whole thing out.”

He said fire department personnel were also on hand to make sure everyone behaved — that they didn’t smoke, that fireworks weren’t sold to people who were drunk or underage.

He said in years past people — apparently unable to contain their enthusiasm — have tried to set off fireworks in the parking lot of the stands.

“We don’t even allow sparklers to be lit off in the parking lot,” Hartley said.

This year there was none of that. Firefighters also kept contact information on hand so that they could let people know who to call if they were unsure about what the rules are where they live.

Fireworks aside, emergency responders weren’t exactly sitting on their hands. Steele said that poor driving conditions Friday kept his department busy reponding to car accidents.

A quick check of Alaska State Trooper logs revealed six drunken drivers arrested either late in the day Friday or very early Saturday morning.

Palmer also got its share of drunken drivers. Remaley said that he personally netted two driving under the influence arrests on Friday, which is unusual for him but understandable, considering he spent the weekend helping out on special overtime patrols in the core area.

But if Friday was busy, it all ended somewhat abruptly.

“Saturday night was relatively quiet,” Remaley said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.