FPD, FFD chiefs stress safety for July 4th

Fremont Police Chief Jeff Elliott wants the public to have a fun Fourth of July holiday weekend, but he also wants everyone to be safe.
That’s why Elliott and Fremont Fire Chief Todd Bernt hope residents use common sense during celebrations. Both said they have seen what happens when people attempt to make homemade fireworks.
“We discourage anyone from doing that,” Elliott said during a recent interview with Walnut Media. “We’ve seen people that have done that in the past in Fremont. It has caused severe injury. We encourage people not to get involved with that because you are not only risking yourself but — as was the case that we had in Fremont a number of years ago — an innocent bystander can get hurt as the result of a homemade firework going awry.”
Bernt agreed.
“We’ve had people try to experiment with fireworks, such as trying to make them bigger and do other things,” he said. “We’ve had some very serious injuries.”
Bernt said a fairly common problem during this time of the year is dumpster fires.
“As soon as people light (fireworks) off, they throw them in their trash right away,” he said. “Fireworks will smolder for a long time. It might be three or four hours later and we’ll get a call about a dumpster being next to a house. That dumpster catches on fire and then the house catches on fire.”
Bernt said there is an easy way to avoid such situations.
“When you shoot them off, leave them in the street or maybe move them to the curb and let them sit there,” he said. “Have a garden hose and a bucket of water handy, then soak them in water before you throw them away.”
Fireworks sales began Monday and will run through Independence Day. Elliott said you can shoot fireworks until 11 p.m. with the exception being July 4th when the deadline is extended to midnight.
“After the Fourth, they are once again illegal and you can’t shoot them off,” he said.
Elliott also noted that some fireworks that were illegal for years in Nebraska, including bottle rockets and inch-and-a-half firecrackers, are currently legal. Some, however, like M-80s, remain illegal.