A person was injured by a firework on New Year’s Eve in north Clark County.
Authorities have not identified the victim, so their condition is unavailable.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue crews were dispatched at 10:47 p.m. Dec. 31 to the 40400 block of Northwest Ninth Avenue, east of Woodland, for a report that someone had suffered traumatic injuries and was having difficulty breathing.
Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Brent Waddell said the person was struck by a large firework and seriously injured.
The fire agency sent two engine companies and a battalion chief. The patient was treated at the home and then flown via Life Flight to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Fire Chief John Nohr said.
Noise complaints
The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to 47 noise complaints related to fireworks around the New Year’s holiday.
The calls represent the total between Thursday and Saturday, Clark County Fire Marshal Dan Young said. Around the same time last year, the office responded to 35 calls.
Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said that her office did not respond to any incidents involving fireworks.
Fireworks are illegal within Vancouver city limits at all times, including holidays. Rules vary in other cities.
In unincorporated Clark County, fireworks were allowed between 6 p.m. Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday.
The Clark County Council in December passed, by a 3-2 margin, an ordinance banning all but Class C fireworks, also called “safe and sane” fireworks, that travel no more than 1 foot into the air or 6 feet along the ground.
The ordinance won’t take effect, however, until Dec. 1.
