Aurora, Colorado, residents hoping to set off their own fireworks this Fourth of July will have to celebrate differently this year. The city announced Friday that it is entering Stage 2 fire restrictions, banning the sale and use of all consumer fireworks just days before the holiday.
Despite the ban, Aurora’s official 4th of July Spectacular show is still moving forward as scheduled, giving residents an alternative way to mark the holiday.
Why the restrictions were put in place
City officials said the decision came down to a combination of factors straining local firefighting resources. Hundreds of Colorado firefighters from across the Front Range have already been deployed to multiple wildfires burning statewide, significantly reducing the amount of local aid available to Aurora if a fire were to break out.
That reduced capacity, combined with elevated fire restrictions already in place in three neighboring counties, Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas, pushed officials to institute the citywide ban rather than risk overwhelming an already stretched emergency response system during peak holiday activity.
What else is banned under stage 2
The fireworks ban is only one part of a broader set of restrictions now in effect across Aurora. City officials outlined several additional prohibitions tied to the elevated fire danger. These include recreational fires, open or prescribed burns, outdoor smoking in all city parks and open spaces, small internal combustion engines operated without a properly installed and maintained spark arrestor, and model rockets…