Taylor Co. Has Fewer Firework Fires, But Plenty of Close Calls
By: Brendaliss Gonzalez
Updated: July 6, 2012
This is whats left of a fireworks show gone wrong.
"My first thought was my gosh, how did it not burn my house?" said Steve Walker, a Buffalo Gap resident.
The fireworks burned about 10 acres of land almost reaching this home.
It was all caused by a neighbor who decided to use fireworks on someone else's property.
"We tried to talk with the guy and stop him from doing it, but again the very next night he was back out here doing it again," said Walker.
It's perfectly legal to set off fireworks on private property outside of city limits, just not on someone else's land.
"This kind of weather is dry you don't need to be doing fireworks in weather like this," said Walker.
This was one of the worst fires in Bufallo Gap caused by July 4th fireworks.
They received about ten calls that night, fewer than most years.
"I've been doing this long enough I was scared, we were really alert and everything - we thought it was going to be worse than what it was," said Bufallo Gap Volunteer Fire Department fire chief Dana Sowell.
Abilene had even less.
"All the way down the line it was a much much better year, much safer year all the way around," said Greg Goesttch from the Abilene Fire Dept.
Fewer fireworks may have been used inside city limits like Abilene, however outside between state and county roads there is plenty of proof of people illegally using fireworks in areas like this one where its even more dangerous.
Just ask Steve Walker.
"This is our home, this is everything we've worked for, our whole life to have that, the possibility of that being gone because of someone else's carelessness, its hard to live with," he said.
"My first thought was my gosh, how did it not burn my house?" said Steve Walker, a Buffalo Gap resident.
The fireworks burned about 10 acres of land almost reaching this home.
It was all caused by a neighbor who decided to use fireworks on someone else's property.
"We tried to talk with the guy and stop him from doing it, but again the very next night he was back out here doing it again," said Walker.
It's perfectly legal to set off fireworks on private property outside of city limits, just not on someone else's land.
"This kind of weather is dry you don't need to be doing fireworks in weather like this," said Walker.
This was one of the worst fires in Bufallo Gap caused by July 4th fireworks.
They received about ten calls that night, fewer than most years.
"I've been doing this long enough I was scared, we were really alert and everything - we thought it was going to be worse than what it was," said Bufallo Gap Volunteer Fire Department fire chief Dana Sowell.
Abilene had even less.
"All the way down the line it was a much much better year, much safer year all the way around," said Greg Goesttch from the Abilene Fire Dept.
Fewer fireworks may have been used inside city limits like Abilene, however outside between state and county roads there is plenty of proof of people illegally using fireworks in areas like this one where its even more dangerous.
Just ask Steve Walker.
"This is our home, this is everything we've worked for, our whole life to have that, the possibility of that being gone because of someone else's carelessness, its hard to live with," he said.
