To the County Commissioners:

On behalf of our 381 Facebook members and over 200 action team members, and for all concerned residents, we are writing to you today about the recent news of the severity and intensity of current wildfires due to the ongoing change in weather, as witnessed in the Maui fires.

When we first began this campaign, before Ilwaco’s ban, we told all decision makers, including you, about the cautionary tale of the six towns on the West Coast that burned down the year before. At the recent Commissioners meeting and workshop where we showed up in mass, in person and on zoom, the danger of a wildfire due to fireworks was the biggest issue for residents in their comments to you.

This is why limiting days makes no difference, fire doesn’t have time boundaries. One second, one spark is all that it takes. A natural wildfire is enough concern but to add danger from a man-made source is irresponsible.

The towns on the West Coast, like Lahaina on Maui, didn’t know it would happen to them.

This last Fourth when fire risk was high you chose to roll the dice and not to enact an emergency ban, leaving residents stressed and worried about their safety. You were lucky this time.

We ask that you join us, residents and members, in some sense of survival instinct and take this threat seriously.

Enact a ban on fireworks.

BETTER BEACHES AND BYWAYS