Fireworks Holiday Is Courting Disaster.(Editorial Page)

EDITORIALS

Sandoval County sheriff's deputies say a man arrested Monday admitted setting at least some of the fires that have raged through the Jemez Mountains. The arrest came after the sheriff's department got a tip about a person throwing flaming pieces of paper out of a vehicle.

New Mexico is so much kindling awaiting a spark -- especially the public lands where fire suppression policies have made catastrophic fires virtually inevitable -- and, someone's driving through the forest seeding disaster?

How stupid, how malicious is that? Aside from the element of intent, however, how is it essentially different from playing with fire in any form next to the tinderbox?

Fireworks are another form of fire people love to play with, too often without consideration of conditions that can fan the snap, crackle and pop into a roaring blaze.

Fireworks caused 400 fires last July 4 in Bernalillo County, according to Albuquerque Fire Chief Morris Huling. An Espanola fire that consumed 200 acres of bosque last month is believed to have been caused by fireworks.

The Legislature has made it difficult to ban fireworks. The State Fire Marshal's Office can make such a determination, but only in cases of "extreme ...