SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In 2024, Andy Curtis started a new job - marketing director of the city of Aspen, Colorado. His first Fourth of July on the job, his voicemail filled with angry calls.
ANDY CURTIS: I just remember one specifically was like, who do you think you are? You guys are un-American. Where is my Fourth of July fireworks? There might have been some expletives in there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICA")
NEIL DIAMOND: (Singing) On the boats and on the planes, they're coming to America.
SIMON: Aspen had canceled its annual fireworks show because of fire danger. This year, again, no fireworks.
CURTIS: The reality is the last, you know, 10 years, we've had about seven of those fire-ban, really, really dry summers where we just couldn't make fireworks happen even if we wanted to.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICA")
DIAMOND: (Singing) In the eye of the storm. Home to a new and a shiny place.
SIMON: As America celebrates its 250th anniversary today, much of the western U.S. is dealing with extremely dry, combustible conditions. In the Midwest and East Coast, millions of people are under extreme heat warnings. It has forced officials across the country to change and even cancel plans. In Aspen, the rockets' red glare of fireworks will be replaced by a drone show in the sky.
CURTIS: It's certainly not as dynamic as a fireworks show, but it's still pretty cool to watch these machines form images in the sky.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICA")
DIAMOND: (Singing) They're coming to America.
SIMON: In neighboring Utah, Governor Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency because of the, quote, "imminent threat of a fire disaster brought on by fireworks (ph)." In Draper, south of Salt Lake City, Mayor Troy Walker chose to ban fireworks altogether.
TROY WALKER: It's a serious situation for us because these homes sit in scrub oak. They sit in dry grass. They sit on mountainsides. The scrub oak that, you know, surrounds this - these neighborhoods is just in perfect shape to ignite.
SIMON: Six years ago, there was a wildfire in the town just south of Draper.
WALKER: It was started by fireworks - kids shooting Roman candles at each other.
SIMON: As the fire spread, Mayor Walker had to order the evacuation of a neighborhood in the middle of the night.
WALKER: The big fires that we've had in Draper in the past have all been firework-caused.
SIMON: He says 9 out of 10 residents that he's heard from have supported this year's ban.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKY ALLEN SONG, "LAND OF THE FREE")
WALKER: Fireworks is not a constitutional right. That's not a requisite thing to do to be a good American or celebrate the Fourth. There's plenty of opportunity to gather as a community with friends and family and enjoy, you know, America.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LAND OF THE FREE")
ROCKY ALLEN: (Singing) I grew up in a small town.
SIMON: Elsewhere, temperatures are expected to exceed a hundred degrees in parts of the Midwest and East Coast. Humidity will make it feel even hotter. In Washington, D.C., the Great American State Fair shut down for a few hours. Numerous cities called off their parades, including D.C., Philadelphia and Norristown, Pennsylvania.
MIKE TRAIL: The parade really is one of our biggest events. It's where the whole town gets to come together. But this year, there was some cause for concern.
SIMON: Mike Trail is police chief of the town north of Philly and says Norristown wanted to go big for America's 250th.
TRAIL: So what was about an eighth of a mile to a mile parade route jumped to 1.8 or 2 miles.
SIMON: Chief Trail says last year's parade had several heat-related medical emergencies, and with even hotter temperatures expected this year and more veterans, children and families taking part, he says canceling the parade was just safest.
TRAIL: We felt that was the best option here, given the weather.
SIMON: The town is still holding July Fourth festivities but in a park with shade, cooling stations and easier access to water. He says the parade will return next year with more plans to try to keep people cool. But Andy Curtis in Aspen says that in the foreseeable future, in the drought-stricken West, drone shows could replace fireworks.
CURTIS: I don't want to say fireworks will never come back, but it's just getting harder and harder to plan for July Fourth.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LAND OF THE FREE")
ALLEN: (Singing) And I wanna see America, yeah, the land of the free. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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