Lincoln Police and Fire Chiefs discuss backyard fireworks and campfires

 

[July 02, 2024] 

On the Monday evening voting session of the Lincoln City Council the last item discussed during the “announcements” segment of the agenda was approached by Mayor Tracy Welch regarding 4th of July backyard fireworks. He commented, “We get calls annually about people launching fireworks in the streets. If you do, just make sure they are legal, don’t do them where you’re not supposed to and be mindful of people with pets. These are the calls we hear about every year, pets get startled, and they run.” He noted there was a dog last year that took off from its home and the owner didn’t find it for several weeks. Welch concluded, “So please be mindful and respectful of your neighbors if you choose to celebrate, and everybody have a safe and happy fourth.”

Alderman Kevin Bateman added to the comments, expanding on issues the city had last year with social media. “Posting on social media is not notifying us,” he said.

Bateman recalled speaking with an individual who said they had “notified, notified, notified.” In those same moments, Mayor Welch had been reaching out to the 911 dispatch who said there had been no calls placed. Bateman said in talking to the individual, he recounted there had been no calls to dispatch and the individual responded, “I posted it on facebook, so consider yourself notified.”

Bateman addressed Police Chief Joe Meister saying he didn’t think that was a sufficient response, and the police department couldn’t just magically know where fireworks were being set off.

Meister responded saying that the fourth of July is always a challenge for local law enforcement. He said the department does get a very high volume of calls during this time and those have to be sorted out. He said some calls come in as “shots fired” and those have to be prioritized and calls made right away.

“We’ll get to the area as soon as we can, but you’ve got to call dispatch. Our officers are not on facebook watching for problems to pop up on social media. They are responding to radio calls, so if you need help call dispatch. If it is not an emergency you can call the non-emergency number, if it is an emergency call 9-1-1.”

He continued, “Please don’t use social media to try and report these things. That is as nice as I can be about social media as I am not a fan.”

Welch asked Fire Chief Ty Johnson if he could also address recreational fires. He said yes, there are ordinances. Recreational fires are not like legal burns where there are tight restrictions regarding location of the fire in relationship to structures. On legal burns such as leaf burning, fires must be 50 feet from a structure, a water source must be present, and be attended at all times.

In the case of a recreational fire, the 50 feet rule is waived. But there are still rules in place including the fire is to be extinguished by midnight, the burn area must be three feet in diameter or less, a water source must be on hand, attend the fire at all times, and do not being intoxicated.

He said that when the department gets calls, it has to check each one out. If the fire is legal then the party will be allowed to continue. He said if it is not legal, the party will be asked to extinguish the fire. He said a fine may be added if “you weren’t nice when we got there.” He went on to say that the department tries to work with people especially on weekends like the 4th of July.

The Lincoln Police Department non-emergency phone number is 217-732-2151.

[Nila Smith]