Bend fire officials inspecting fireworks sales tents

The Fourth of July is less than 10 days away, and that means fireworks sales have begun.

Every year, fireworks tents are required to be inspected by the fire marshal, who looks for all sorts of infractions, ranging from the number of fire extinguishers available to the signs posted at the tents.

In Bend, a person must be 18 years old to buy fireworks, and there must be signs posted making that clear.

The fire marshal also looks at the number of exits in the tent, how close cars are parked and table spacing.

They also look for illegal fireworks, which usually end up in the tent by accident, Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Larry Medina said Monday.

“Nowadays, we have a pretty good track record of full compliance,” Medina said. “There have been recently, just new introduction of new types of consumer fireworks, so there’s a little bit of a learning curve of what’s legal and not legal. But it’s rare that we find something. Usually it’s just a miscommunication of what we can sell in Oregon vs. some other states.”

For the people working in the tents, such as Jake Dennis, it’s all part of the process.

“Bend fire’s been super-patient and very easy-going with any of that,” he said. “If there is something that’s not right, they know it’s not intentional, then we can get it solved in the next couple hours.”

In Oregon, fireworks can only be sold from June 24 through July 6.

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