With today being the 4th of July, anywhere in Iowa is now legal to shoot consumer fireworks and people need to keep safety in mind when doing so.

Jefferson Fire Chief Jack Williams says pay attention to where fireworks end up and have a bucket of water or a hose nearby in case debris lands in a dry area of your yard that could start an unintentional fire. He explains a few other safety precautions to avoid injury and prevent other possible fires.

“Just make sure that when you’re shooting it off you don’t hold it in your hand, follow the instructions, keep it away from structures. Because a lot of the stuff that falls still is hot and will catch the asphalt roofs on fire.” 

Williams stresses the ideal places that people can shoot fireworks from that is generally safe from there being issues.

“If you have a concrete driveway or a rock driveway that’s probably one of the safer places. Just make sure that it’s a smooth, flat surface, something that when you take off running after lighting the fuse it doesn’t get knocked over and then shoots into someone else’s house, or a vehicle, or into a group of people.”

Williams adds having a water source nearby can also help to put out any of the packaging that is leftover from a firework that may catch fire or some that are duds but dousing them with water helps to make sure those are out.