Watertown Cancels Independence Day Fireworks; What About Mount Rushmore?

Watertown city officials figure coronavirus is serious enough to cancel the Independence Day fireworks they had scheduled for July 3:

With South Dakota’s COVID-19 peak projected for mid-June, we do not believe it is prudent to invite thousands to gather for this event only two weeks later. Furthermore, this is not the right time to ask local businesses for money to pay for this event nor for the public to take on the expense when needed purchases are being delayed due to uncertain economic conditions [Mayor Sarah Caron, press release, posted by KELO-TV, 2020.04.25].

Which reminds me: are fireworks still on at Mount Rushmore? If it’s not prudent to gather thousands of people in Watertown for fireworks on July 3, it’s less prudent gather tens of thousands of people in a highly flammable forest for fireworks on July 3.

The National Park Service drafted an environmental statement contending that the fire risk of fireworks over the famous four faces isn’t that great. (although there are rumors that the National Forest Service has to bring in “volunteers” from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to cover the extra work fireworks at Rushmore will create). The draft says there may be a 60% chance of a “modest wildfire” likely confined to the memorial grounds, maybe a little bit of water contamination, and more burn marks adding to those created the last few times we launched rockets at the famous four faces. The draft impact assessment, posted February 27, does not address the potential impact of coronavirus spread through spectators crowding the park and Keystone and surrounding vantage points.

Also not figuring coronavirus into his impact statement was Bill Gabbert, who put out fires from past Rushmore fireworks and who wrote in December that Kristi Noem and Donald Trump’s intent to shoot fireworks over Mount Rushmore was insane:

The fireworks were discontinued after 2009 due to wildfires that were ignited by the explosions over the Ponderosa Pine forest, and, very serious contamination of the water caused by the chemicals in the fireworks.

During the first five years of the fireworks, Mount Rushmore was one of the seven Parks within the Northern Great Plains Fire Management organization for which I was the Fire Management Officer.

The park is not just the stone carving; it is surrounded by thousands of acres of timber and the Black Hills National Forest.

Part of my job was to plan for suppression of the fires that started when burning embers from the fireworks hit the ground. We mobilized dozens of firefighters during the busy part of the fire season and had them positioned just outside the falling-debris zone. We had to restrict out of area fire assignments to be sure enough firefighters remained available for the show. After the aerial explosions ended, we would move in, search at night in the steep rocky terrain, and extinguish the fires.

In one of the first displays over a dozen fires started. They were all put out when they were small, but it was proven then to be an insane concept to shoot off literally tons of fireworks over a ponderosa pine forest in July [Bill Gabbert, “President and South Dakota Governor Say Mount Rushmore July 4th Fireworks Will Be Restored,” Wildfire Today, 2019.12.18].

Wildfire and coronavirus? Maybe Noem and Trump think ignoring threats to public safety in favor of Liberty™ is the perfect way to celebrate their Independence Day, but Watertown seems to be making the smarter choice. Maybe we’ll be able to come out and share hot dogs and Pepsi with a few neighbors by the Fourth of July, but let’s at least save some money and pour those fireworks funds into buying masks for first responders.