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Last night, as my wife and I drove home from dinner, a fire truck passed us, sirens wailing. Then an ambulance. Then another firetruck. Then another ambulance.
Yup, we thought. It’s the Fourth of July.
As much as local police departments tried to crack down on illegal fireworks, July Fourth celebrations inevitably set parts of the Valley ablaze. On Reddit, one Valley resident shared a live view of all the active fires – available through the city of Phoenix website – happening at approximately 10:52 p.m.
A live view of active fires in Maricopa County at 10:52 p.m. on July 4.
Redditor zeecapteinaliz via Reddit
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A day later, as the city’s live fire tracker shows, things have calmed down significantly. And while full data for the entirety of July 4 is not yet available on the Phoenix Fire Department’s incident history map – the most recent day the map includes is July 3 – the department did share some statistics on social media.
In Phoenix, there were 207 fire calls on July 4 – for house fires, tree fires, dumpster fires, alley fires and grass fires, among others. That’s actually a decrease from a year ago, when there were 256. But it’s a huge jump from July 3, when Phoenix saw only 59 fire calls.
“It was a busy night!” the department posted. No kidding.
And while the craziest part is passed, the fireworks danger is hardly over. State law allows legal fireworks to be used on private property through July 6. As you light them off, try not to set anything on fire. The Valley’s emergency responders are tired.
