Residents stay safe during Fourth of July weekend

Loretta George/Tribune photo Fireworks light up the sky at Uniontown's Independence Day Bash held Friday evening. Approximately 600 Uniontown High School alumni joined the annual Independence Day Bash in the city park. The evening included local band The Barnstormers.

It was a pretty smooth Fourth of July weekend for local law enforcement and fire departments.

Fort Scott Police Chief Travis Shelton said Monday police officers encountered no major fireworks-related incidents over the holiday weekend, which traditionally involves the shooting of fireworks throughout the community.

The Fort Scott Community Fireworks Display organized by the Elks Lodge No. 579, which took place Friday night at Fort Scott Community College, "went very well," Shelton said. For the second straight year, the display took place July 3 due to concerns police and fire officials had with people bringing personal fireworks to the public display.

Shelton said some spectators brought personal fireworks to the display but police officers monitoring the area addressed those situations quickly.

"I did see occasionally some here and there ... for the most part, it went well," he said.

Shelton said he watched the public display with Fort Scott Fire Chief Paul Ballou and the event was enjoyable.

"In my opinion, it's so much more of a safer environment when people don't bring their personal fireworks to a community event," he said. "I think people are complying with it. There were also no issues when the crowd was dispersing afterward or with trash at the college. That's also a positive of folks not bringing fireworks to a community event."

Shelton said the police department fielded some calls related to fireworks over the weekend but he had seen no reports of fireworks-related injuries. According to dispatch figures, the department took about five or six fireworks noise complaints.

"That's not very many compared to past years," Shelton said.

Police also handled some domestic incidents and general purpose calls over the weekend. Shelton said general purpose calls are basically calls for service and is a "catch-all" category that is broken down into various areas.

"It was a typical summertime weekend," he said. "I don't think the call load was spiked anywhere."

Bourbon County Sheriff Bill Martin said Monday it was a "fairly normal weekend" and he also had not seen any reports from his staff regarding fireworks-related incidents.

"It was basic calls and stuff we go out on," Martin said. "It was an average work day ... nothing related to fireworks. Nobody got shot with a Roman candle."

Ballou said Monday the weekend was busy for city firefighters but there was "nothing fireworks-related" reported over the weekend. Most of the calls were the typical medical runs the department is dispatched to.

"It was kind of normal business," Ballou said.

Ballou said firefighters handled one call over the weekend involving a washing machine belt that sparked a fire at a residence. Another call involved a tree falling on an air conditioning unit outside another residence, causing a fire. Ballou said the washing machine fire was "basically just smoke." He said he was not sure of the damages caused in the fire involving the air conditioner. Firefighters were able to take care of both fires quickly, he said.

"Locally, there were no fireworks injuries that I know of," he said. "It was a busier weekend, but normal runs."