By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
While Hays was host to various events in celebration of the Fourth of July holiday, no significant incidents were reported to law enforcement.
In total, the Hays Police Department logged 26 calls for service from June 27 to July 5, according to Chief Don Scheibler.
"That's when it's legal to sell fireworks in the state of Kansas," he said.
But Hays restricting the sales and use to only July 2 to 4 was also key to the safe holiday.
"That has really seemed to help," Scheibler said. "One year, we had an extended period where we allowed fireworks and that was just a disaster."
After several years of the three-day limit, he said most area residents comply with the regulations.
"And we are grateful for those folks," he said.
He also said he is appreciative of the patience and understanding showed by the community as fireworks were fired across the city.
Calls to the department concerning fireworks overwhelming come in during the day, often to share a concern about unsafe behavior, Scheibler said.
He said that the department also recived a large influx of calls as the 11 p.m. fireworks curfew passes.
But violators are mostly educated as to the rules.
"[Sometimes] they have a couple more fireworks to shoot off before the night is over and the neighbors call up and express their frustration," Scheibler said.
Officers then used those opportunities to share the regulations, especially with visitors to Hays.
"A lot of people come to Kansas, and we want them to do that for Wild West Fest and baseball games and those different types of events, and they may not be familiar with our laws and ordinances so the education is a big part of what we do," Scheibler said.
Along with the police department, the Hays Fire Department reported a relatively safe holiday, with no firework-related injuries reported and only minor fires.
"I think everything went really well for our community," said Hays Fire Department Deputy Chief Shane Preston.
In total, the department responded to 12 fireworks-related calls "spread throughout the city" he said.
Those calls included grass fires and fires within trash cans, but the most significant incident was reported after fireworks that were not completely extinguished were placed in the bed of a pickup and reignited, damaging the truck.
"Most were just carelessness," Preston said.
He reported all nine fireworks stands in Hays cleared the department inspections "with flying colors."
The department was also on-scene for the city fireworks show, extinguishing hot spots, but all were "nothing major," Preston said. "We were already there for that purpose."
Outside of the minor fireworks-related calls, Hays events remained relatively calm as well, Scheibler said.
He said the parks department reported that "they didn't have any problems with trash being left in the parks and they were grateful for that."
"Jeff Boyle and his crew spend a lot of time and a lot of effort and the city puts a lot of money towards us having nice parks and they really appreciate it when the community takes care of those beautiful facilities," Scheibler said.
Along with parks, he praised the organizers of the annual Wild West Fest, and said the event was "pretty much uneventful for us."
"It's a great family event," Scheibler said. "The Wild West Fest committee does a wonderful job of making that all come together and a shout out to the Kiwanis Club. They handle the beer garden portion for the Wild West Fest and we didn't have any reports of underage drinking down there. We didn't have any disturbances in there. They just did a really nice job of keeping that very low key and I think people appreciate that."
And the annual parade was also safer than ever he said.
"The parade had 55 great entries and just went really, really well," Scheibler said. "I really appreciate the Wild West Fest in terms of making those parades safer. Almost all the [entries were] just walking alongside, passing out candy, not throwing it from the end. That made it much safer. We really appreciate that the Wild West Fest committee stresses that community safety."
Overall, he said the holiday can be nerve-wracking for first responders, but the way the community comes together created a fun weekend.
"To be in Hays, Kansas, for the Fourth of July weekend and see all the fireworks going off across the community and the sky is just lit up and for the most part people are very responsible, very respectful. It's just a great family weekend here," Scheibler said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: James Bell is a member of the Wild West Fest committee and Eagle Radio is a major sponsor of the event.