© Associated PressA fireworks store near Santa Fe, N.M., was closed Wednesday.
Officials from Florida to Arizona have prohibited the use of fireworks to reduce the risk of more wildfires. They are also asking counties and residents where bans aren't in place to give up holiday displays.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Wednesday ordered state police officers to help enforce bans and restrictions put in place across parts of the state. "The conditions in New Mexico are simply too dangerous for anyone to buy, sell or use fireworks this summer," she said in a statement.
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday pleaded with counties, cities and citizens to forgo fireworks. So far, 179 of Texas's 254 counties have banned fireworks, according to Gov. Rick Perry's office.
"It's just too dry, and our firefighting resources are stretched too thin to be able to cope with potentially massive outbreaks of fires caused by fireworks," said Steven McCraw, the public safety department's director.
© Associated PressTexas County, Okla., Sheriff Rick Caddell carries fireworks to a van.
More fires are reported on July 4 than on any other day in a typical year, and fireworks account for more than half the fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Fireworks caused an estimated 18,000 fires during 2009, the most recent year reported, leading to 30 civilian injuries and $38 million in property damage, the association said.
Some cities are canceling their official Fourth of July shows, including San Antonio, which has also banned 10 private fireworks displays. Instead, the city's fire department is suggesting less flammable - if less exhilarating - options such as flying kites, blowing colored bubbles or dropping mint candies into soda bottles to create sticky geysers.
"There are some other alternatives that you can do to be patriotic," said Melissa Sparks, a fire department spokeswoman.
The dry conditions also put the nearby city of Schertz, population 32,000, in a bind. Its annual Fourth of July Jubilee is the town's biggest event of the year, drawing some 40,000 people with a massive pyrotechnics display. "None of us wanted to cancel," said Brad Bailey, a spokesman for the city. "What's the Fourth of July without fireworks, frankly?"
Recently, officials came up with an alternative: the Star Spangled Laser Spectacular, sponsored by local restaurant Grumpy's Mexican Café. On Wednesday, technicians installed mirrors, screens and catwalks around town to create a "dome" of lasers that will be synchronized to music to recreate the traditional celebration, Mr. Bailey said.
Fireworks businesses are hoping local officials will lift some bans, at least for the holiday. Fourth of July sales total around $500 million a year, making up about 80% of annual revenue from sales of consumer fireworks, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. Annual revenue for the fireworks industry is just under $1 billion a year, with two-thirds of that coming from consumer fireworks and the rest from sales of display fireworks, the association said.
Sales at family-owned Extreme Fireworks in St. Augustine, Fla., are 60% below a year earlier. Sales have been hurt by county county bans across Florida, where two firefighters died in June, and south Georgia, where drought is rampant and wildfires have scorched more than 300,000 acres of the Okefenokee Swamp.
"I'm checking my weather app every day. I'm addicted to the radar," said Greg Lord, the store's manager.
Most county and city officials have banned only the use of fireworks, hoping to minimize the economic impact on businesses, but Shreveport, La., and nearby Bossier City banned sales as well. At Uncle Sams Fireworks in Bossier City, 125 employees have lost their jobs. Drought conditions in the area are the second worst in 120 years, according to Brian Crawford, Shreveport fire chief. One customer came in asking to buy fireworks for his son and had to be turned away, according to a store guard who identified himself only as J.R. "It shows two mayors who don't care if people have a job or not," he said.
Larger fireworks distributors who have tent operators selling fireworks throughout the South, such as Pyrospot/Four Seasons in DeLand, Fla., and TNT Fireworks in Florence, Ala., say they have yet to feel a major impact.
There is one glimmer of hope for smaller fireworks sellers, said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Fireworks are also popular in the South for New Year's Eve. "What we're hoping is that the South can make up the loss during that second opportunity," she said.
there is no more freedom or independence.