Fresno Fire responds to Fourth of July incidents

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – The Fourth of July is historically one of the busiest days of the year for firefighters.

Fresno Fire Department used extra resources to help keep the community safe throughout the night.

“We are staffing two additional engines and a wildland brush rig just to be ready to respond to those calls as they come in,” Public Information Officer Josh Sellers said.

Sellers also says the crews do face challenges while putting out the fires on Independence Day.

“Those crews that are responding to those calls over and over to the next one to the next one, it’s still hot. And our protective gear that we have to wear is great at protecting us from being burned. But it does cause heat-related injuries if we don’t get a chance to cool down and stay hydrated,” Sellers said.

Brian Price, Battalion Chief for Fresno Fire, says the station normally has four personnel traveling in one truck but now has an additional three for extra hands on the Fourth of July.

“We’ve got a lot of personnel on scene, we’ve also changed up our response plan so in a expectation of a high volume of calls we’ve changed the way we’re dispatching to expedite more rigs, to be ready to respond quicker in the event of multiple fires,” Price said.

Most of the fires responded to are caused by illegal fireworks.

“Fireworks that leave the ground and go boom, they look great, but they are great incendiary devices, and they start multiple fires,” Price said.

Officials ask residents to stay safe when celebrating and to call 911 in an emergency.

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