(CelebNMusic247-News) Arizona Firefighters Honored With Fireworks:
Prescott town leaders honoring the deaths of 19 hometown firefighters are retooling the over-the-top celebration that has long made this Old West town the place to be on Independence Day.
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The booming bursts may remind some of the wildfire, still burning, that claimed all but one of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew on Sunday, but the hilltop community of 40,000 is determined to mourn its dead without compromising its traditions. The mantra for days has been, “celebration, not grief.”
Families of the fallen firefighters are expected to attend, as are more than 10,000 revelers from all over Arizona.
“This is our Super Bowl, our main event. This is it for us,” Prescott spokesman Pete Wertheim said. “The whole town will be there.”
Though much of the southwest remains a tinderbox, fire officials say they will be able to deploy the pyrotechnics safely, pouring water on the detonation area and putting fire suppression crews on standby.
Festivities are expected to last at least 10 hours and include an all-day carnival, 40-foot waterslide, motocross competition and a nighttime dance at the town’s outdoor rodeo.
A member of the fire department will speak in honor of the dead before a 30-minute fireworks display.
American flags have proliferated in the past 24 hours on the quaint streets of this cowboy town, as have handmade memorials to the Hotshot crew.
Hotels have long since run out of room for out-of-towners hoping to attend the celebration at Pioneer Park, a 10-minute drive from the makeshift memorial residents have built outside the Hotshot headquarters.
