Fireworks sellers say New Year’s Eve is typically their busiest time of the year.
“Typically we will get most of our customers on news years eve,” said Kash Kufahl, MR.W Fireworks stand worker.
Sellers and buyers are working to make a festive New Year.
“We were looking for more small ones, ones that you can put on the ground, stuff like that,” said Genesis Mendez, shopper.
Fireworks are illegal within San Antonio city limits and because it’s been so dry recently, Bexar and Kendall County have banned certain flying fireworks.
Kendall County Fire Marshal Brady Constantine says crews are preparing for the risk associated with fireworks.
“The forest service is responding west of our area on fires left and right right now,” said Brady Constantine.
Dry conditions caused flying fireworks like missiles with fins and rockets with sticks to be baned in Bexar and Kendal counties this holiday season.
“Any break or damage to that firework can change the total trajectory of it,” said Brady Constantine.
When they start fires in rural areas, Constantine says logistics and the landscape can reduce response times.
“The city fire department can generally be anywhere in five minutes or less, whereas out in the county you have a majority of volunteer fire departments anywhere west of San Antonio, really,” said Brady Constantine.
Nonprofits like the Hill Country Fire Coalition of Texas is working with rural homeowners to prepare their property for the worst.
“It’s really important to use noncombustible landscaping,” said Christie Wiley, director of Hill Country Fire Coalition of Texas.
Now not all aerial fireworks are banned in Bexar and Kendall County.
Constantine says fireworks like mortars that are dropped into a tube before being fired explode so high in the air the risk
that embers fall to the ground is low.
one of the most important things you can do to prevent fires is to soak used firework shells in water.