There were no significant fires in Erath County over the July 4 holiday weekend, bringing a sigh of relief to residents and emergency personnel.
Erath County Commissioners made a difficult call to shut down all firework sales and use on Wednesday, June 29 for a 60- hour period started at 10:50 a.m. through Friday, July 1 at 10:50 p.m. They asked the office of the Governor to extend the fireworks ban in the entirety of the county for the length of the burn ban which was granted Friday, July 1.
“While we know this a hardship on the vendors and a disappointment to families that wanted to pop/discharge fireworks, this decision and request to the Governor’s office was done for the safety of the resident of Erath County,” Erath County Emergency Management Coordinator Cyndi Smith said. A designated safe space was set up off County Road 417 outside Stephenville where citizens who had purchased fireworks could have their fireworks lit by professional pyrotechnic personnel from dark until 10:30 p.m. Sunday, July 3. Stephenville’s Fourth of July event included a professional firework display by North Texas Pyrotechnics.
Many area counties in the DFW metroplex had nonstop fires and firework calls including Fort Worth’s professional show being stopped due to a nearby wildfire.