Fireworks discouraged due to dry conditions - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Stacy Murray considers himself a pretty patriotic kind of guy.

With a drink in hand and friends and family on hand, he starts celebrating the nations birthday early, beginning with the Fishers Freedom Fest.

"We decorate it up I'm retired Navy so we go a little bit overboard with it," said Murray outside of his Fishers home.

With the unusually dry conditions, fireworks won't be a part of the party this year.

"The grass is too dry I don't want to catch anything on fire so we're going to play it safe this year, " said Murray.

That's good news to the Fishers Fire department.

"We can't be everywhere in Fishers to help monitor people's back yard fireworks," said Ron Lipps with the Fishers Fire Department.

Firefighters have already been exceptionally busy putting out roadside fires mostly caused by people flicking cigarettes out of car windows.

"Last June Fishers Firefighters had one grass fire for the entire month. They've had 46 already this month and they're braced for that number to go even higher"

"What's really got us kind of nervous right now is we haven't even hit the peak yet for fireworks use at home," said Lipps.

Despite the fact that nearly one-third of the state is under a burn ban, state law does not allow local governments to ban fireworks from June 29th to July 8th, no matter how dry it is.

"Just the possibility of dry weather during fireworks season wasn't on the radar for the folks who wrote this law so now that we're seeing what we are seeing this year hopefully they're going to take a look at the law and make some adjustments so local fire departments can issue bans based on the conditions," said Lipps.

As Stacy Murray claims his front row seat for the Freedom Fest fireworks show, he has a small request for neighbors planning on launching their own fireworks.

"Please don't burn my house down" said Murray.

That's a request seconded by firefighters who are hoping the only thing blazing is in the sky.