A Community on Fire

Our community is on fire, but not the kind of fire that has plagued NM and AZ of late. Instead, we are burning with a sense of accomplishment and thanks. Over the past two weeks, the community came together over a shared concern about fireworks and the dangers for real and devastating fire. An epidemic of chutzpah started with a little exposure to the fire professionals of the town and county in several community meetings, and it was communicated through various email lists of homeowner associations and neighborhood watch groups; it became a real contagion when the fireworks tents went up in Walmart and Food Basket parking lots, causing community members to picket and raise the alarm. Finally, chutzpah went viral when the mayor, the town council and the town’s attorney took a stand against fireworks of any kind, in defiance of state law that allows municipalities to regulate only certain types of fireworks.

To give a little more context, although the names Wallow, Horseshoe and most recently, Los Alamos don’t need context – they are the context – the state of NM allows sales of all sorts of fireworks from sparklers to “rockets bursting in air.” Even the governor has limited ability to impact the sales of fireworks; she can only ban them on state lands. Municipalities are limited to banning certain types. But in the terrible state of dryness across the southwest, any type of firework is a threat – wildfire is nondiscriminatory that way.

In our community, there are several local vendors who contract for and sell fireworks from a company called TNT. Ironic name…or probably, just good marketing. When those tents went up and the vendors were stocking to open, the community stood up. There was quite a bit of pressure brought to bear on the vendors. People walked the street corners with picket signs, garnering a modicum of police protection and a lot of public support. Calls were made to Walmart, locally managed but obviously not locally owned, and to Food Basket, which is locally owned. Believably, the local owners of Food Basket agreed with the concerns. Unbelievably, it sounded as though the Walmart manager, also in agreement, convinced “corporate” to support the community.

The vendors were in a bit of a pickle. At least one vendor under contract to TNT was a church using the sales as a fundraiser for the church mission. Another interesting irony in the saga: pray for rain but sell the rockets. The cautionary and appropriate thing to do would be not to sell. But the vendors would be hurtin’ financially, because they were under contract. Both community members and the Mayor of Silver City contacted TNT, who agreed to let the vendors out of their contracts. Not one rocket, not one sparkler for sale within 60 miles. All those who decried the over-riding greed for profit had to notice: not one, not two, but three profit-driven companies stood down in the face of community and political pressure.

It’s true that people could go to Deming and buy enough fireworks to set all 3 million acres of the Gila National Forest on fire, but perhaps they saw the light of a different reason. So it was a quiet July 4th with dark skies not starred, not spangled, not booming; no ohhs, no ahhs, no dogs hiding under beds in sheer terror. As the fever of chutzpah cooled, it was replaced by a probably short-lived flare-up of common sense.

We’re proud of our mayor. We’re proud of our town council and our town’s attorney. And we’re especially proud of our community who stood up together. Just ask anyone.