Firework Fires Hitting The Valley

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Story Published: Jul 4, 2009 at 6:04 PM PST

By Sade Malloy

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Yakima County -- Saturday's heat is not lost on firefighters They were already bracing themselves for a potentially busy weekend. The first big fire came Friday afternoon and was started by fireworks. Action News went along with a special team to see first-hand how they handle danger when the heat is on.

"The next year when kids want to light fireworks will they really think of the consequences," says Anne Schilperoort. Her family property was torched because of fireworks.

It's been a rough day for the Schilperoort family. Their hop kiln, warehouse and stacks of hay went up in flames Friday.
It's a loss of 8 hundred thousand dollars and a fire that could have been prevented.

"We get all kinds of fire everything from small brush, to structure in the past year and 99% are fireworks related," says Capt. Dave Martin, Yakima County Fire District No. 5.

The fire that tore through the Schilperoort's property is part of that 99 percent. Firework fires have Yakima County Fire District No. 5 bringing on more man power and tripling the number of engines on duty, going from 3 to 9.

"If we can get on them keep them small then we're done and back to the station ready for the next one," says Capt. Martin.

Property owners tell us half of the warehouse that's now burnt to the ground was converted into apartments. It was housing for their workers.

"One family was preparing to purchase their first home and they had saved cash and that's never recoverable in a fire," says Schilperoort.

If there's any silver lining it's that this preventable fire could have been worse. Despite the financial losses for the Schilperoorts and their workers, no one was injured.

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