# Wildfires, Fireworks and Happy July 4



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Came across this graph. Even though it only shows a small subset of total land area, two things surprised me. One was that such a vast majority of fires are started by people. The other is the huge spike of fires on July 4th. The implication is that fireworks contribute to a lot of fires, though I have seen no actual data to support that.

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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Wow..thats scary. We don't even buy fireworks any more. 

Happy 4th of July TGS family!! Stay safe!! Be safe!!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)




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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Not surprised. We don't have to go anywhere. We have a few neighbors that put on displays.


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## bisonviewfarm (Apr 2, 2015)

I suspect we'll have a few started by fireworks this year. We're on stage 2 fire ban and the city canceled our show but some idiots are sure to go up to Wy and buy some.


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## MidnightRavenFarm (Jun 4, 2020)

We had planned on buying some fireworks to do in the back field like we do every year for the kids entertainment, but after this week I told them My anxiety can’t handle any loud bangs or sparks or any kind of fire no matter how small


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## AndersonRanch (Oct 18, 2020)

I can’t say this is for every area but fires do spike here during the 4th and very little are actually started by fireworks. Most people have the day off and people on the move or trying to “celebrate” are what causes most of the fires. They decide to go camping, or go to the lake and don’t check their safety chains to make sure they won’t drag and start fires. Deciding they need a bon fire or a camp fire that gets out of control. One of the largest fires we (California) have had was started by a flat tire on a camp trailer. And yes though there are the fireworks too but most people know those can be a risk, it’s the stupid accidents that are the main problem.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

That is the odd thing. They imply that fires are caused by fireworks, it makes sense that people playing with fireworks could case a lot of fires, yet they give no details as to how many fires are actually caused by fireworks. I'm sure statistics exist.

That said, I don't understand why we still have fireworks. With our environmental concerns, you'd think most people would be against taking various unknown chemicals, shooting them into the air to explode and having the debris rain down on us. The clouds of pollution waft down wind and the loud noises throughout the night frightens wildlife and domestic animals. Add to that the cost of fireworks for very brief visual entertainment.

But they are pretty....


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

I agree they are pretty. But my horse runs like crazy, the LGDs are on high alert. The goats all cowering in their barns. I dont find the noise fun. I do stay up late and watch for the fireworks going off all around us, to make sure no fires are started. I worry about the many people whom are injured during this Fun night. The E.R. numbers spike, just as that fire graph pictured!


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

Here the noise starts in mid-June and continues a week after the 4th. Definitely upsetting pets and livestock for miles around. I do enjoy them generally but enough is too much!!
We will hopefully enjoy a quiet family bbq in the late afternoon. We have two birthdays tomorrow.


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## MidnightRavenFarm (Jun 4, 2020)

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July.


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## Kass (Apr 26, 2020)

Happy 4th everyone! Stay safe! 

Sent from my SM-A115U using Goat Forum mobile app


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## Goatastic43 (Jun 11, 2021)

Happy Independence Day y’all!


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## Tanya (Mar 31, 2020)

Ok. I am in South Africa so we dont do the 4th of July celebrations.... i think our independance day thing is in April some time.... that particular holiday has no significance to us unless your granparents were part of the political struggles in the 70's.

So happy 4th of July to all of you.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

We have rude neighbors and they fire off fireworks all year long. I keep long hoses at the ready as well as extinguishers in the barn areas. We got lucky and it rained yesterday so the ground was wet but a spark on the roofs scare me because they’re the hardest to see and catch early.

I love the 4th, and we read the Declaration of Independence and watch 1776 every year. We celebrate the reason for our national holiday.
The neighbors are free to be idiots, we’re free to protect our home and animals...it’s what we do.

Happy Independence Day y’all!


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## MidnightRavenFarm (Jun 4, 2020)

GoofyGoat said:


> We have rude neighbors and they fire off fireworks all year long. I keep long hoses at the ready as well as extinguishers in the barn areas. We got lucky and it rained yesterday so the ground was wet but a spark on the roofs scare me because they’re the hardest to see and catch early.
> 
> I love the 4th, and we read the Declaration of Independence and watch 1776 every year. We celebrate the reason for our national holiday.
> The neighbors are free to be idiots, we’re free to protect our home and animals...it’s what we do.
> ...


When you said “we have rude neighbors and have hoses ready” I don’t know why I automatically thought of you spraying your neighbors lol


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## Tanya (Mar 31, 2020)

Oh spraying the neighbors would be so fun...... its a pity it could get you into trouble of course....


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Wellllll spraying Your Neighbors could be your Freedom to pursue you right of Happiness...lol lol lol


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

Moers kiko boars said:


> Wellllll spraying Your Neighbors could be your Freedom to pursue you right of Happiness...lol lol lol


I’d love to..... 🤫😉


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

I was almost the cause of one of those human caused wildfires. Our temperatures (here in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, BC) have dropped from highs of 38-42C (100-107F) to highs of 27-30C (80-85F), so I was braving the outdoors again. We had our hay cut and baled a week ago. Yesterday, I decided to clean up the hay field with my lawn tractor. (Besides my minivan, the lawn tractor is the only thing I own with wheels and a motor. ) I wanted to cut some of the long grass around the perimeter and spread out larger clumps of hay so they would not kill the grass. I was tootling along cutting grass when my little mower came to a sudden stop. An unpleasant grinding noise emanated from below. I instantly shut off the mower blades. To my surprise, the noise continued, so I turned off the motor. I happen to look down under the motor where I saw flames. I quickly got off and pulled the tractor back. There was a small grass fire about a foot in diameter visibly growing larger, with flames about 20cm (8in) tall. I jumped into the middle of the fire and stamped like a mad person. I got the fire out and rubbed the ashes into the ground with my feet until there was a large patch of bare ground. I waited 15 minutes to ensure the fire was out and returned to my house to allow my blood pressure to return to near normal.
I had "high centred" the front end of my little tractor on a fairly large rock and something under the engine was grinding on this rock and I assume, making sparks. It was only about 5 seconds from getting stuck to turning off the engine. Another 5 seconds to pull back the tractor. I was fortunate that it happened in an area of fairly thin and sparse grass or else I may not have been able to put out the fire. My story could have been very different.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Happy 4th of July!!!!!🇺🇸🇺🇲


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

So glad you are alright! Its amazing how quickly fires can ignite!


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

So glad you got that under control before it got out of hand. Good that things have cooled down a bit.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow! That was scary. Glad you got it under control and weren't hurt.


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## Orcakat (Mar 31, 2021)

Happy 4th, everyone! From Whiskey, Tango, and Foxtrot! Stay safe.


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## MidnightRavenFarm (Jun 4, 2020)

This was on the news. Piney flats is where my husband works, next county over from us. This is just so sad and such a shame. Those poor goats


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## Tanya (Mar 31, 2020)

Ugh. How sad. Poor goats. Humans just do not care about the creatures that have a right to walk on this earth. 
How sad.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

*Fireworks fire & injury facts*

Fireworks started an estimated 19,500 fires in 2018, including 1,900 structure fires, 500 vehicle fires, and 17,100 outside and other fires. These fires caused five deaths, 46 civilian injuries, and $105 million in direct property damage. 
In 2018, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 9,100 people for fireworks related injuries; half of those injuries were to the extremities and 34% were to the eye or other parts of the head. Children younger than 15 years of age accounted for more than one-third (36%) of the estimated 2018 injuries. These injury estimates were obtained or derived from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2018 Fireworks Annual Report by Yongling Tu and Jason Ng. 
Source: NFPA’s Fireworks Fires and Injuries report


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> *Fireworks fire & injury facts*
> 
> Fireworks started an estimated 19,500 fires in 2018, including 1,900 structure fires, 500 vehicle fires, and 17,100 outside and other fires. These fires caused five deaths, 46 civilian injuries, and $105 million in direct property damage.
> In 2018, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 9,100 people for fireworks related injuries; half of those injuries were to the extremities and 34% were to the eye or other parts of the head. Children younger than 15 years of age accounted for more than one-third (36%) of the estimated 2018 injuries. These injury estimates were obtained or derived from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2018 Fireworks Annual Report by Yongling Tu and Jason Ng.
> Source: NFPA’s Fireworks Fires and Injuries report


Back when I was a kid, my cousins, little brother and I somehow ended up with a bunch of bottle rockets and firecrackers left over from the 4th of July. We played with those things all summer, including shooting them at each other. Somehow, we were never injured seriously enough to warrant confessing to our parents what we were up to. I imagine our guardian angels worked extra hard that summer. We could have so easily become part of those statistics.


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

I hear you. We use to light, & hold bottle rockets, throw them straight up and watch them soar down into the.pond. They.would explode in the water. We thought.that was sooooo cool. I think my guardian angels had to wear kevlar...


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## FizzyGoats (Apr 14, 2021)

When I was seven, my older brothers (about 10 and 12) and I were home alone on 4th of July night. We were playing with those little fireworks that spin along the ground and spark and make noise. We were well away from the barns and using a big dirt area of the driveway and one firework went way wild and spun under an old broken down truck. Whatever was leaking from that truck, ignited and there was now a small fire. For about one second, we just stared at each other, dumbfounded. 

Then my brothers yell at me to get in the truck (yes, the one that appears to be on fire) and put in neutral. I’m yelling back because I don’t know what that means or how to do it. Finally, I get it neutral and they somehow had the strength to push it out of the way and luckily, the flames on the actual underside of the truck died quickly (probably because it had leaked all its flammable fluid). 

I ran inside to call 911 because our driveway was on fire (grass had grown under the truck that had been there for months) and it was breezy and sparks/embers were igniting little grass fires in our pasture. When I came back out, one brother was shoveling dirt on the driveway fire, one was running around dropping shovel fulls of dirt on the grass fires. I grabbed a shovel to help and it seemed like a losing battle for a while. It seemed to get bigger, not smaller. I cried. I think my brothers might have too, but we were too busy to stop what we were doing and see if we were the only one crying. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (but was probably 15 minutes), we had it out. The fire department showed up right as were trying to catch our breath. They checked everything and said we got it all.

We were so disheveled, covered in soot, sweat, and dust, and visibly upset because we almost burned our place down (we had 37 animals there too) that they didn’t even lecture us. We must have looked pathetic. All they did was tell us what a good job we did getting the fire out. 

To this day, none of us are fans of fireworks.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)




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## Boers4ever (Jun 28, 2020)

We were driving down the interstate about a year ago and saw a small circle of flames in the ditch. This was next to a very large forest and tall dry grass along with a burn ban at the time also. My dad put on the brakes when he saw the flames and by the time we backed up to the spot it was a large flaming circle. We got out of the car and stamped our hardest and finally got it out. Called the fireman after that. It was crazy how fast the fire spread. If we hadn’t stopped there is no telling how many buildings, animals, and miles of forest would’ve been killed and destroyed. All because some careless interstate driver threw out a cigarette.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm not a fan of fireworks. And, no matter what the weather services say- it will rain within 2 days of Independence Day. All those fireworks going into the air, it's
like seeding the clouds,- it will rain. (around here, rain doesn't need an excuse)- but they called for no rain until Thur. everyone mowed for hay- rain late today and 
tomorrow! I knew it, it happens every year!


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## Lil Boogie (Mar 24, 2021)

On the 4th I was giving my big girls in our top pasture their 4th dose of Corid and our neighbors were shooting off fireworks and man, they were running around like crazy! They were so scared I could not hardly hold them to give the Corid!


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

I feel bad for the people whose animals get scared of fireworks. One of our dogs used to get really panicky about thunderstorms or fireworks, but we got a new dog 2 years ago who decided all that panicky behavior was silly, and would get after him every time he started to freak out. He does much better now.  The neighbors have a shooting range pretty close to one of my goat pens (shooting away from our property) so the goats had to get used to loud noises. I was out checking my boys as fireworks were going off all around us, and they were totally calm.


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## FizzyGoats (Apr 14, 2021)

We were watching my mom’s Great Pyrenees who is terrified of loud noises. First day here a wood pecker sent him running. But he calmed down the longer he was here and was pretty good on the 4th. He wouldn’t go outside, but he didn’t hide in the bathtub. So, progress. 

My dog and goats didn’t care at all about fireworks. We hear gun shots a few times a week and they don’t care about those either.


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

Wow! Lots of interesting stories. Reminded me of when we lived on the beach and would light and throw those spinning rossettes into the water and watch them spin and sputter.
We had a dog years ago who watched as my husband set off little ground works for the kids. He sat back and figured out who was causing the ruckus; ran up and promptly bit Dad on the butt!!😲


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