Fire restrictions due to the hot, dry conditions are putting a damper on fireworks shows in B.C. this summer — but the year’s biggest pyrotechnic event is still slated to go ahead as planned.
Despite some rain on Saturday on the south coast, fire risk remained high and bans on campfires and fireworks were in effect.
Raymond Greenwood, who runs a business called Mr. Fireworks, said he has had to cancel four fireworks performances in the past week.
Such dry conditions so early in the summer are unprecedented, Greenwood said. “Never, ever in 30 years have we seen it like this,” he added.
Greenwood said it’s disappointing to lose the wasted time that goes into cancelled performances, as well as thousands of dollars on permit fees, but he agrees the ban is probably appropriate. It’s just a tough situation, he said, and he is hoping conditions improve.
“I’m doing a rain dance on my roof and hoping,” he said.
Don McCauley, owner of Nanaimo-based Island Fireworks, said his business is taking a hit too, but he tries to take it in stride.
“You’ve got to respect it. It is what it is. I’m at a kids’ camp in Nelson and we normally do fireworks for them. But right now? Not a hope in heck,” he said. “But so be it. You know, I’d rather a little bit of a hit, but be safe.”
Vancouver’s largest annual fireworks display is set to go ahead as scheduled again this year.
The Honda Celebration of Light fireworks festival, marking its 25th anniversary this year, isn’t expected to be affected by the fireworks ban, since the pyrotechnics are launched off a barge in English Bay.
Festival producer Heather Sharpe said: “It is over two times the federal regulation for distance to land. So we are definitely over and above the required safety measures.”
The Celebration of Light had originally planned to host a series of smaller fireworks displays in parks and public spaces around the Lower Mainland for the first 25 nights leading up to the July 25 opening the 2015 festival.
But festival organizers decided to put those plans on hold, Sharpe said, in response to the dry conditions and fire risk.
