Local opinion: Use common sense: replace fireworks with lasers

Dead of winter with the holidays upon us might seem an improbable time to bring up July 4 fireworks on Sentinel Peak. In fact, it is right on time for city of Tucson officials and business sponsors of the fireworks show to plan a change for next year and beyond.

The city and the show’s sponsors should replace the fireworks with a laser-light show to do away with the violent noise, cause less harm to the environment and eliminate the potential for a conflagration. Lasers would be just as spectacular as fireworks.

Oro Valley did a laser show last July 4, as did Flagstaff, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay and many other cities around the country, replacing their traditional fireworks. Reports were that the oohs and aahs from the crowds were equal to those for fireworks.

For a sample, search online for “July 4 laser drone show” to find videos of some amazing displays.

The cost appears to be comparable. An online search found that a fireworks show such as the one on Sentinel Peak probably costs about $50,000, plus the expense of Fire Department preparations and firefighters standing by.

A laser and drone show could cost around $45,000, according to a story in USA Today last July 3, quoting an official with Sky Elements Drone Shows of Fort Worth, Texas, which puts on the displays.

A laser-light show is better than traditional fireworks because it would:

Honor war veterans and protect other people, pets and wildlife by ending the concussive noise that can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder, fear and anxiety.

Protect the environment by eliminating big clouds of noxious smoke, the remnants of fireworks wrappings blown all over the mountain and the lingering odor of gunpowder.

Eliminate fire danger. On July 4, 2017, fireworks sparks ignited the invasive buffelgrass on Sentinel Peak’s south slope; the fire burned for two hours, damaging cacti and other native flora. Good thing it wasn’t on the north side, where there are dozens of houses. (Full disclosure: One of those houses is my wife’s and mine.)

Free Fire Department crews and equipment for emergencies rather than having them stand by on and near the mountain. No fireworks also would keep firefighters from the potential danger of battling blazes on the mountain’s rugged slopes.

Sponsors that have underwritten the fireworks show for years could switch to a laser and drone show as a sane and safer offering.

Sentinel Peak and all the Sonoran Desert are often at their driest in the first week of July. Introducing incendiaries in the form of fireworks in that environment defies common sense.

Here’s what the city posted online before last summer’s fireworks: “The Tucson Fire Department and Tucson Water will be preparing the mountain and the surrounding area, as they have in previous years, by soaking down the vegetation in advance of the event on July 4 and will remain on-site during and after the show in order to minimize any fire risk.”

Why minimize fire risk when risk can be eliminated with a laser and drone show?

Let us hope that political and administrative leaders have the wisdom to change, modernize and improve this celebration before tradition brings about tragedy.