One thing was normal about the Modesto area’s Fourth this year: Dozens of fire calls
The COVID-19 pandemic made for an unusual Fourth of July in the Modesto area, with residents advised not to gather too closely. One thing was normal: All those fire calls.
The Modesto Fire Department responded to 58 fires in its Modesto and Oakdale service areas Saturday, Battalion Chief Darin Jesberg said Sunday morning.
The most serious was at an empty home in the 3500 block of East Orangeburg Avenue just east of Fransen Lane. The shake roof was damaged in the early evening incident, Fire Chief Alan Ernst said at the scene as fireworks sounded in the background.
Another call came close to midnight from Vintage Circle in Oakdale, where firefighters contained a shed fire before it got to two homes.
“We were literally going from call to call to call,” Jesberg said.
Investigators have not confirmed how many of them were related to illegal fireworks, but the level is typical of past years, he said.
‘What we usually do’
The vast majority of people enjoyed legal fireworks, with nothing exploding or shooting into the air. And they were urged to do it with COVID-19 safeguards, including masks and no close contact with non-household members.
An early evening sampling by The Modesto Bee found that the pandemic did not diminish their celebrations.
“It feels pretty normal,” said Elle McCue, whose family set off its own fireworks and watched others in the neighborhood. It had a bicycle parade for children in the morning, compete with balloons.
Modesto resident Bill Holmes was out with his family’s three dogs.
“I don’t see any groups here being smaller or anything like that,” he said, “but it’s mostly just neighborhood people coming out and immediate families lighting up fireworks.”
He noted that the location also allowed the neighbors to see and hear illegal fireworks set off elsewhere.
Deborah Hendricks of Modesto said her group was staying socially distanced, only celebrating with their immediate family.
“It’s what we usually do,” she said.
Downtown event touches on tensions
The pandemic canceled the downtown Modesto parade, which dates to 1874 and draws several thousand people in better times. It was replaced by a small ceremony that featured songs by Jeremiah Williams, who is parade chairman for the Modesto Kiwanis Club, and remarks by other civic leaders.
This observance of Independence Day happened amid the Black Lives Matter Movement, as noted by Wendy Byrd, president of the Modesto-Stanislaus Branch of the NAACP.
“So as we celebrate this Fourth of July, during a COVID period and unrest, this is a historic moment ... for us to grow, to learn, to respect each other, and to be together, and to create America into what we would like it to be.”
