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By law, Chief Gavin had to douse county fair fireworks display
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
“It was an extremely difficult decision, one that I really didn’t want
to make, but the potential was there for property damage or even
personal injury. After reviewing the situation, and discussing it with
several other members of the fire department, I think we made the right
call.”
That’s what Caledonia Fire Chief Chuck Gavin said about cancelling the
fireworks display at the Houston County Fair. To commemorate the 150th
year of the fair, the fair board decided to include a large fireworks
display opening night, which was Wednesday, Aug. 13.
“The fair board went through the proper channels to obtain the permit,”
City Administrator Bob Nelson said. “The fire department was asked to
be on hand to provide fire protection. When they arrived several hours
before the scheduled event, they looked everything over and felt it was
a hazardous situation.”
According to Gavin, the fireworks were to be launched on the east end
of the fair grounds near the grandstand. The projectiles were to be
shot nearly straight up and potentially would be landing very close to
a large LP tank, a 500 gallon diesel fuel tank, a 300 gallon gasoline
tank, and near a herd of 150 beef cows.
“The permit was issued in June, but we never received any information
from the company as to where they were going to launch the fireworks,”
Gavin explained. “The code calls for at least 420 feet of clearance,
and they were within 125 feet. We looked at moving the launching area
closer to the grandstand, but that wouldn’t work either, because then
it was too close to the spectators. I even contacted the state fire
marshal. I was advised not to sign the papers to let the fireworks
display go on as planned.”
According to Gavin, either he or Houston County Sheriff Doug Ely had to
sign the final approval papers before the event could take place.
Gavin pointed out that the Caledonia Fire Department has always
supported the Houston County Fair. Local fire fighters have helped
provide fire protection and crowd control for more than 100 years,
until the Fair Posse was established a number of years ago.
“I didn’t want to deny the permit, but I didn’t have any choice,” Gavin
continued. “The fair board went through the proper channels. It wasn’t
their fault. The company that was putting the event on has it stated
right on their website that they need a 300 foot radius around the
launch site. They knew better. They didn’t have close to enough room.
By law, we couldn’t approve it,” the fire chief concluded.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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