Watsonville CA 2008 bans Fireworks sales

WATSONVILLE -- Watsonville put its more than 40-year-old tradition of fireworks sales on hold this year.

After three major wildfires in Santa Cruz County in the past month -- the most recent on the city's doorstep -- the City Council decided unanimously Wednesday that the risk is too great to go forward with the annual sales that benefit nonprofit groups. "We've never seen a fire that big that close to city limits," Councilman Manuel Bersamin said of Friday's Trabing Fire, which raged through a neighborhood just north of the city limits. "This is an exceptional year."

Fire and police officials from inside and outside the city were among those urging the council to suspend sales. Watsonville Fire Chief Mark Bisbee called the situation a "clear and present danger" due to unprecedented conditions. The three wildfires so far have cost millions to suppress, and in-yet-to-be-totalled losses to property, and left firefighters and other emergency workers exhausted, he said. The more than 700 still-burning fires across the state have only made matters worse. A five-engine team from the county, including an engine from Watsonville, deployed to Chico on Wednesday morning, leaving fewer firefighters here to tackle problems. "You have the choice to detonate or defuse the situation," Bisbee said.

Some in the crowd knew firsthand what Bisbee was talking about. Luis Ramirez, 20, lived on Carson Lane in the Larkin Valley Road area until his family's home burned Friday in the Trabing Fire. He said he enjoyed fireworks as a kid, but recognizes some children won't have adult supervision. "I don't want anybody to go through what I went through," he said. "Our house is gone."

Some city residents feared fireworks could bring a similar fire to their neighborhoods. Mary Armstrong said she opposes the fireworks that turn her neighborhood of Laurel and Madison into a "war zone" each year, but the dry conditions make the issue more critical this year. "To think we would sell fireworks for money and put people's lives in danger, I think that's insane," she said. ...more... See the original article in full, as published here