Column: For pet's sake, no fireworks

The morning after the Fourth of July one year, a dog showed up at our back door; a shaking, frightened and forlorn black labrador.

More than a month of advertising lost dog went by without any responses. We finally gave up trying to reunite her with whoever or wherever she had run away from and adopted her into our family.

Long before then, she had already amalgamated into our family, so we were actually hoping to keep her anyway.

Genie, who we named because she just appeared out of no where, turned out to be the best dog our family ever had. But the way she came to our home was a sad story.

Fortunately, she wandered into our yard and not somewhere she would have been unwelcomed.

Happy endings aren't always the case for every dog or cat that goes missing on the Fourth of July. Many end up in the shelter and some sadly go unclaimed.

Others are gone for days, even weeks before finally being recovered thirsty and starving.

Some never come home, their tragic end met by the cold, cruel steel of three-ton automobiles or high desert predators like the coyote.

If you are a pet owner or neighbors to pet owners, please be considerate of them this Fourth of July.

Keep dogs and cats indoors. Secure yards are only as secure as the panicked animal they are meant to contain.

I remember one Fourth of July years later, Dad accidentally left Genie outside in the fenced yard. She tried to claw her way into the house, leaving deep scratch marks on the solid wood front door.

If a panicked dog doesn't climb its way over your yard's six-foot back fence, then it may try to dig its way under or claw right through it.

Do not underestimate what a frightened animal in flight mode is capable of doing.

The best defense to protect your pets is to keep them inside on the Fourth of July.

Don't set off your own fireworks, either. Pets will get upset enough with the booms and bangs coming from the annual Carson City fireworks display at Mills Park. The last thing they should have to go through are closer, more violent booms and bangs out in the street.

Besides, fireworks are illegal to possess privately or set off in Carson City.

And for good reason. They burn, and so do many other things in Northern Nevada.

One might as well toss a lighted match in a tinder box as set off fireworks in the high desert.

Our region has the perfect conditions for wildfire: An arid climate with ridiculously low humidity, dry brush and frequent wind.

If the hot exhaust from a dirt bike or a single spark from an ejected cartridge can ignite brush, imagine what an innocent-looking sparkler can do.

If you insist on purchasing and setting off your own fireworks, then drive an hour northeast to Pyramid Lake.

Otherwise, save your money and enjoy the fireworks spectacle at Mills Park.

I know fireworks are fun and pretty to look at. But they are also dangerous.

Besides being a serious fire hazard, fireworks cause numerous injuries each year from misuse.

Even if you think you know what you are doing, things can still go wrong. Professionals make mistakes, too.

A routine controlled burn by the Nevada Division of Forestry in October 2016 turned into a raging wildfire that devastated more than 2,200 acres of forest and destroyed 23 homes in Washoe Valley.

Fire isn't anything to play with despite the fact that fireworks come in often colorful, child-enticing packaging.

I miss my childhood growing up in Oregon's Willamette Valley, celebrating the Fourth of July with sparklers and dancing around fountains of light.

But after 26 years of living on the high side of the mountains, I've accepted the fact that fireworks and desert don't mix.

I've seen too many fires touched off by fireworks to feel a little bit edgy now whenever the Fourth of July comes around.

This holiday is supposed to produce joy, not sadness. Watching homes burn or pets run off into the night is not the way I want to spend my Independence Day.

I don't want our first responders to work any harder on the Fourth of July than they have to, either.

Please be considerate of yourself, your family, your neighbors and your community when partying it up today by using good sense.

Follow these three simple steps and everything will be as it should the next morning:

— Do not drink and drive. These two choices can do more than cause mayhem for you and your family. It can tear other families apart.

Most deaths from drunk driving accidents occur in the other vehicles being hit than the one the drunk driver is operating.

Being responsible for another family's loss is a burdenous weight nobody should have to bear.

— Leave the fireworks to the pyrotechs at Mills Park.

— And secure your pets indoors.

Your community will be grateful for the good decisions you make today.