Valley Fires Keeping Firefighters Busy

Another Independence Day and more fires that dot the valley makes one wonder if the Fourth of July will ever be independent of fires caused by fireworks.

There were no major fires, but firefighters in the city of Yakima and in the East Valley responded to more calls than last year, as the Yakima Herald reported.

There were three dozen small fires reported in the lower valley, none involved buildings, a Yakima movie theater was evacuated because of smoke and seven of the eight fires in Yakima were either confirmed or suspected to have been caused by fireworks.

The seven fires caused by fireworks is much more than the two from last year and at one point, there were no available units because they were responding to calls.

Dry conditions and high winds concerned firefighters with the small fires possibly becoming larger and out of control, but thankfully it was only small and "relatively small" fires throughout the East, West and Lower Valleys.