Shoppers browsing fireworks displays at retailers across the Suncoast during Fourth of July weekend wouldn’t have known a burn ban was in effect.
Stacks of fireworks and sparklers tempted customers as they entered stores, all while authorities urged the public not to set off pyrotechnics due to extremely dry conditions affecting most of the state.
Throughout the Suncoast, people celebrating America’s 250th birthday ignored the burn ban and illegally blasted fireworks in their yards, on streets and at parties, prompting law enforcement to respond to more complaints than the year before, according to dispatch records…