I live in the Western United States, where the climate is dry and the temperatures can be hot in the summer. (It has been consistently near 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the past couple of weeks!) There are constantly fires breaking out in the West every summer, and they usually do great damage, and the smoke is often hanging over the city where I live. Ugh!

I live close to a mountain that has lots of grass, and where the wind often blows - part of a perfect combination for wild fires. Hence, it was no surprise when our city banned fireworks in our neighborhood several years ago. This is a permanent ban, and there are plenty of signs notifying the public of this. There are even more (temporary) signs during the week of July 4th.

Yes, it is a bit inconvenient that we can't set off our own fireworks, but I'll still take the ban because in the 19 years we have lived here the mountain by our house has caught of fire twice! It is not fun having the fire department knock on your door and tell you to prepare to evacuate if things get worse. (We've never had to do that, thankfully!) Not to mention that the nice hiking trails in the foothills are blighted by burned grass, bushes and trees for a couple of years.

So you can imagine my disgust when I went hiking a few days after the 4th of July this year and found a large burned spot just a few blocks from our house! I wanted to post a sign next to it saying: THIS IS WHY FIREWORKS ARE BANNED IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, PEOPLE!

It irks me to no end that people ignore the law and do fireworks in this area. The only consolation I have now is that over the next few years I can watch nature spring into action and slowly replace the charred grass and trees with new, bright greenery. I'll keep you posted on how that is going. In the meantime I hope our firework-happy neighbors take a hint from the burned mountainside and stop increasing the chances that we'll all go up in flames!