What to know about fireworks and the risk of wildfires this July 4

With wildfires raging across the western US, cities and states are restricting fireworks just as the nation gears up for one of its biggest Fourth of July celebrations in decades.Utah recently banned personal fireworks displays, citing extreme wildfire risk.Governors in Colorado and New Mexico this week urged restraint, while cities and counties from the Southwest to Oregon and Washington have imposed restrictions of their own.The message is simple: Families should attend professional displays instead of lighting fireworks in their own yards.This July Fourth marks the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The country is looking forward to an especially big version of the holiday’s usual mix of red, white and blue.From Mount Rushmore to Washington, D.C., and thousands of communities in between, spectacular displays are still planned.Record dry conditions elevate the risk this yearIn the past week alone, hundreds of wildfires erupted throughout the West, adding to the already above-average pace for acreage burned so far this year.

The flames are being fueled by dry, windy conditions.While the Southwest was hit particularly hard by an unusually dry winter and dismal snowpack, others parts of the US, including much of the East Coast and parts of the South, are experiencing varying levels of drought, according to data from the US Drought Monitor.Nearly 85% of wildfires are caused by people, both intentionally and unintentionally, such as when power lines fail or campfires are left unattended.Lightning strikes are a common natural cause, but rarer culprits, such as animals chewing exposed wires, can cause fires, too.Ingredients for a wildfire include flammable vegetation, weather conditions and an ignition source.

Fireworks serve as an ignition source, which is why the number of fires spikes each year on July Fourth, said Philip Higuera, a fire ecology professor at the University of Montana.“It’s not because the Fourth of July is particularly always warm and dry and...