AURORA, Colo., July 4 (UPI) -- On this firecracker Friday, the forest fire wary Rocky Mountain States are pondering a possible Fourth without private fireworks.
Last summer's ferocious forest fires are still fresh among residents from the Great Plains to the Sierra Nevada, a area parched by three years of drought. Personal fireworks likely will be allowed in most areas, though the final decisions in some cases will be made late, but banned in most forests and parks.
Residents in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are among those invaded by fires this year and cautionary steps are being taken.
For example, officials in the Tucson area, where a major ground-fire burned out of control last month, will be holding laser shows in place of fireworks Friday night.
All fireworks have been pulled from the shelves in major chair stores in New Mexico, where last week teenagers shooting bottle rockets touched off a 400-acre fire along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.
