While it's a fun tradition to get out and celebrate the Fourth of July, some people celebrate in ways they shouldn't. Sometimes these celebrations end with calls for firefighters, police, paramedics, and even animal services.
REMSAÂ says that from July 1 to 4, they had 956 responses and 548 transports. Believe it or not, that's fewer than last year.
The Reno Fire Department says that they're noticing a slight decrease every year with fires, but still want everyone to celebrate safely. That comes after they had to respond to about a dozen outside fires and brush fires on Tuesday–a majority of them caused by fireworks.
"We need to be able to do it safely. We need to keep in mind that these fires as they get going, they can get bigger, and they can start threatening the structures in town and people could lose their homes," says Jerry Kosak, battalion chief at Reno Fire Department.
One of those brush fires we broke to viewers in our 11 p.m. newscast Tuesday night.
The brush fire burned about five acres on a hill, right behind a neighborhood on Culpepper Drive and Watervale Drive in Sparks.
This fire is still under investigation, but the Sparks Fire Department says that all signs are pointing to fireworks as the cause.
Washoe County Animal Services said that since Friday they've brought in about 78 stray animals. So far about half of them have been reunited with their owners.
"We had 16 dogs brought in from last night to this morning so pretty significant number. We had 20 dogs brought in from Friday to Saturday which was also a big day for people to set off fireworks and things like that, so yeah, large number," says Quinn Sweet, outreach program coordinator.
Washoe County Animal services offers free microchips and personalized ID tags for your pet's collar, that way they can reunite your pet with you as quickly and safely as possible.
As a reminder, fireworks are illegal in Washoe County and other nearby counties. Being caught with them could mean jail time.
If you're looking to get rid of your fireworks, Reno Fire has a program where you can drop them off at any station and they will take them from you, no questions asked.
