Fourth otherwise without major incident
By Polly Keary, Editor
A Monroe firefighter responding to a fire that was started by a firework had to get stitches the evening of the 4th of July when he was struck in the head by another stray explosive, said an on-duty battalion chief the following day.
"We had no idea where it came from or who fired it," he said. "They had just put out the fire in the tree, and the whole area was full of people firing fireworks."
Other than that, he reported, there were no major incidents, and only a few small blazes, including a planter box and a fence.
Monroe police arrested one man for being drunk and disorderly at a neighborhood party, but other than that, it was a noisy but uneventful holiday, said Deb Willis of the Monroe Police Department.
"At about 9 we got several calls with complaints about fireworks," said Willis, adding that there were some complaints about fireworks being discharged outside legal hours of use.
"We understand it's hard to have these large explosions well after midnight, but it's really hard to track it down," she said.
One of the major vexations of the holiday was the trash that remained, Willis said.
"One sergeant said he'd never seen so much debris in the roadway," she said. "I hope people went out and cleaned it up in the morning."
Sultan, too, was relatively problem-free.
"We didn't have any major issues," said Sultan Fire Chief Merlin Halverson. "We had a few aid calls; that was it, and I don't think they were related to the 4th."
That said, it was a lively evening, he added.
"It was like a war zone," he said.
In Gold Bar, the fact that fireworks are banned didn't do much to hamper their use, and there was reportedly a small brush fire there, as well.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Department said that the unincorporated county had no problems to report the follow day.
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