ADA COUNTY, Idaho — The Ada County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) reported receiving a record number of illegal fireworks calls on July 4.
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The agency received 364 calls about illegal fireworks and 185 text tips, totaling 549 firework-related reports. This is the highest number of firework reports received since ACSO implemented its Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system in 2017.
Possessing or lighting fireworks is illegal on all public lands according to Chad Cline, with Boise BLM.
“We did experience on the 4th an actual fire that was caused by fireworks in the foothills, which poses a big problem with the WUI that we have up there," said Cline.
WUI stands for wildland urban interface, essentially it is areas where the foothills and houses meet and if a fire starts in those areas with the right conditions, they can grow rapidly.
“This year we experienced a little bit of rain on the Fourth of July, which probably helped quite a bit," added Cline.
Fire crews were able to catch the late night fire quickly and keep it small at just over an acre burned.
But now that the holiday weekend is over, Boise BLM is actually expecting to see an increase in fireworks caused fires as people make the mistake of using their "leftovers" on public lands.
As for Ada County, despite the increase in calls, Deputy Lauren Montague noted that ACSO recorded its lowest number of fire-related incidents on July 4 in recent years. Only 10 fire reports were made during the holiday, compared to 43 in 2022 and 62 in 2023.
If you start a wildfire you may face jail time, a massive fine and have to pay the cost for firefighters to put it out.
