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County waiting on drought conditions to determine fireworks ban

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Jason Carlisle, McKinley County Fire Chief, presented an updated drought map to the McKinley County Board of Commissioners during their recent regular meeting.

As of May 7, McKinley County is experiencing  moderate drought conditions, he said. The severe drought danger has decreased recently, and will not affect Gallup, he added.

The reports have been heard by the Board of Commissioners to determine if they will implement a ban on certain types of fireworks for sale ahead of the summer season.

County Attorney Doug Decker said the raw data has to show major areas of McKinley County are in severe or worse drought conditions before they can prohibit the sale of certain types of fireworks.

“Vendors need to know about prohibitions, so they won’t order stock and have it on hand without selling it,” he said. “This would be a big economic burden on vendors.”

The statute to prevent sales of certain fireworks would last for 30 days, and it would have to be done as close to the Fourth of July as possible, if they want to go ahead with the ban, he said.

Currently, the board plans to take action on the potential ban at the June 4 regular meeting, but even that date could change based on what the drought map shows.

“If we are in such conditions where drought is getting worse, we may have to have another meeting to extend [the ban],” Decker said.

The county will have to take action 21 days before a holiday, and the sale period runs from June 20 to July 6, Decker added.

By Cody Begaye
Sun Correspondent

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