Timnath conducts prescribed burns ahead of town's 4th of July fireworks show

The town of Timnath, located just east of Fort Collins and north of Windsor, has started a prescribed burn in an effort to avoid accidental fires caused by fireworks on the Fourth of July. 

The town hosts an annual holiday firework show for its residents as a way to bring the community together while also encouraging people to not use illegal fireworks of their own.  

"There is going to be significant fireworks," said Don Taranto, public works director and town engineer for Timnath.  

Fireworks that leave the ground are illegal in Colorado when fired by residents without proper licenses and permits. 

Timnath town officials hoped they could curb the amount of illegal fireworks being used by hosting their annual firework show with precautions taken. 

"There have been fires that have made the news recently in the last few years," Taranto said.  

To avoid making headlines for grass and structure fires, Timnath conducted a controlled burn on Wednesday near Timnath Reservoir, the location where the annual show is hosted.  

"The controlled burn is to get the tinder, the stuff out here that is dry and could spark up with some of the residue from the fireworks, we burn it ahead of time," Taranto said.  

Just after 9 p.m. on the 4th of July the fireworks will be professionally launched from the very land that was burned by the town.  

Even with all of the rain the town received in the month of June, and with the Poudre River running high through the growing community, there were still concerns about fireworks sparking fires even at a professional event.  

"We were concerned if we were going to get any of this to burn at all with the amount of rain that we got, but the last several days have been drier," Taranto said.  

The town plans to have its own water trucks on location during the event, and a fire engine from Poudre Fire Authority is also scheduled to be on scene as additional layers of protection. 

"This is something we don't ever want to lose control of. This is all about being ahead of the game and protecting everything around it as much as we can," Taranto said.