EVERETT — Thousands of calls came into 911 on the Fourth of July throughout the county, including a report of a man losing his hand to an explosive.
In all, Sno911 received 3,081 calls — about a 35 percent increase from a typical summer day. Of those, 849 came into a non-emergency line. More people used that resource than in recent years, said Kurt Mills, director of Sno911.
“We really appreciate the community using the non-emergency number to report noise and firework complaints,” he said. “It helps keep 911 open for people with real emergencies, and there were a number of firework-related incidents.”
Some of the most serious reports came from South County Fire and the Marysville Fire District, Mills said.
In one case, a man lost his hand, said Leslie Hynes, a spokeswoman for South County Fire.
“He was holding a firework,” she said. “It was described as a mortar.”
It happened around 11 p.m. east of Everett.
“Someone applied a tourniquet, which was a good thing,” Hynes said.
The man, likely in his 30s or 40s, was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The highest number of calls came in between 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., Hynes said.
Most were brush or trash cans that had caught on fire. That usually happens when people throw out used fireworks, thinking they have cooled down, she said.
There were only a couple of fireworks-related incidents in the Marysville Fire District, said Christie Veley, a spokeswoman for the district.
“That’s pretty good,” she said. “I mean, that’s very, very good, actually.”
Both were in Tulalip.
A barn in the 13300 block of Meridian Avenue North was destroyed. The estimated damage is almost $100,000. It likely is a total loss, Veley said.
Fireworks are believed to be the cause, but it’s still under investigation.
The only injury happened at Boom City on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. A man in his 40s was hit in the leg by fireworks debris. He was taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
“It was a blast injury with a possible broken bone,” Veley said.
Marysville voters banned fireworks starting in 2017. The number of incidents has gone down each year, with none reported in the city this and last year. Any fireworks-related problems that happen in the coming days could still be counted in this year’s statistics, though.
The explosives also are banned in Brier, Edmonds, Everett, Gold Bar, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo and Woodway.
The state Fire Marshal’s Office received reports of 209 injuries and 92 fires statewide caused by fireworks in 2018, with the vast majority occurring on July Fourth.
The leading causes of fireworks-related injuries were being hit by debris at 43 percent and holding fireworks that exploded at 42 percent.
Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter:@stephrdavey.
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