
Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Price City Fire Chief Fitzgerald Petersen to discuss the fire restrictions in the city. This comes on the heels of two big fires near the area, Bennion Creek near Scofield and Bear near Helper. This was not an easy decision to make but once the local area saw the impact of the two big fires it was apparent to city officials to implement fire restrictions to keep people and property safe.
“When we first started discussing this unique season, this was before the major fires, we were working on that to designate areas that would be safer and definitely zone places where you couldn’t, a matter of fact that map is still out there. Once the big fires started, the two Bennion Creek and of course Bear fire that changed everything; and the weather has gotten repeatedly worse when it came to our drought conditions and so that changed everything,” said Chief Petersen. For the city of Price there is no designated areas at this time where fireworks can be enjoyed, it would have to go to a vote at city council in order to make those changes.
Now if you are an individual who bought fireworks before the city restrictions were set in place you need to know how to properly store your fireworks until next year. “I’m very concerned with that. Another thing that has happened in my ten years as a Paramedic and Fire Fighter is children getting a hold of things like that, that were legitimately in those parent’s minds put away where they wouldn’t find them, and children are going to use them unsupervised and it’s going to result in injuries, that’s the potential. I would suggest that it has to be somewhere safe where children don’t have access to that and only the individual that owns that home knows where that spot is,” explained Chief Petersen. The best way to store fireworks is in a non-flammable container with the lid tightly in place and don’t place near anything flammable.
“I do want to say this though, I have had people stop me and talk to me and call me and stop at the station, some have brought up some great points, nothing that we haven’t considered. But overall, we are in a difficult situation, made a judgment call that people would not necessarily like and yet people in the community are rallying around the decision, ok, the decision has been made, lets make this place safe for the next 30 days and I feel pretty good about that,” stated Chief Petersen.
To keep up to date on the Price City Fire Department visit their Facebook page.