 Good afternoon, my name is JD Chisholm. I'm the Public Information Officer for the Denver Fire Department. Myself and members of different agencies throughout the city wanted to just have a quick press conference to answer some questions that we've gotten leading up to our Fourth of July holiday. The big question on everybody's mind, the question that we get called on a regular basis for is, are fireworks illegal in the city and county of Denver? And the answer to that question is yes, all fireworks are illegal in the city and county of Denver. The next thing that usually follows, especially this year that we're seeing a lot of, is with the moisture and the precipitation that we've seen over the last couple months, why are we still having these firework bands in the city? And the answer is with the water has brought great growth. We've seen growth to the parks, we're seeing lush green everywhere that we go, but it also means we have more fuel for the fire. Over the last two weeks, Denver fires received over 30 calls related to trash or weed fire. Not all of those are related to fireworks, but it's an example of how much we are still seeing the opportunity and the ability for these fuels to burn. It's about safety, it's about taking care of our neighbors, it's about taking care of our pets. And so in the city, we're just encouraging everybody to leave it to the professionals, get out to where you can see the fireworks done by professionals and protect yourselves, your neighbors, your property so that we don't see any of these accidents that we've seen in years past. I'm going to pass it on to Mack Thompson with Denver Health. He's going to talk about some of the things that Denver Health are seeing in the emergency calls that they're receiving. Good afternoon everybody. I'd like to thank our partners for letting us come out, giving us the opportunity from Denver Health paramedics to come out here and speak about the injuries and stuff that we experienced during this time. There is a lot of burns, hand injuries. We also have a lot of temporary hearing loss, eye injuries, all these things are subsequent of fireworks. So we must be, leave it to the professionals. I think that's the best way to go and go out and enjoy it. We also want you to be mindful of the alcohol consumption because sometimes that could lead to some strenuous issues that could happen when it comes to the fireworks and just getting dehydrated. Also there can be problems with the sun, heat issues. We also see a lot of people fall victim to heat exhaustion and also it can go as far as heat stroke. When you notice certain symptoms, you want to be very mindful of it, move people to the shade, get them hydrated. You get to the point where they're having nausea, vomiting, anything of such like that. Then you want to go ahead and call 911. We'll be more than happy to come out and take very good care of you. Be mindful during this time. Watch out for the kiddos, open flames as far as like barbecues and pool incidents. We see a lot in a way of pool incidents and so we must be very careful with ourselves, with our kiddos, be responsible with everybody else. I will now hand this over to Rachel Smith and she's from Animal Protection. Good afternoon. I'm Officer Smith with Animal Protection, one of the lead officers with Denver. We're here to talk about the problems with animals during the 4th of July. So every year we have a lot of dogs that get loose on the 4th of July. It's one of the busiest days of the year for us. One of the number one questions that we get is how do we actually keep our animals safe? So my recommendation is that you keep your dogs inside the house and I say that because leaving them outside tethered in the yard or loose in the back yard can sometimes have detrimental consequences. For example, we get a lot of dogs that are frightened from the fireworks. They have much better hearing than people do so they have the ability to actually jump 6 foot tall fences. And so if you could tether them in the back yard as well, however what I caution with with that is that we have had cases particularly in Denver on the 4th of July over the past couple of summers where we received calls for a dog tethered in a yard. And when we responded out what we found was that dog was actually tied up along a pole and other miscellaneous items in the yard to the point where it had less than 12 inches to move. And that can be detrimental to the health of the animal because of the heat because they can injure themselves, they can kill themselves potentially. So tethering is not something that we recommend. It's best to keep them indoors where they can't actually escape. One of the things that is required for both dogs and cats here in Denver is that they are required to be licensed. So we have tags that should be affixed to their collar or harness at all times. And the great thing about those tags is that on the back of them they have a QR code that actually anybody can scan and find out who the owner is and their information, your phone number, your address. So they can actually bring your dog or cat back to you instead of an officer from animal protection picking the animal up. And what I would also caution against for the 4th of July about leaving your dogs outside, even if they're tethered, a lot of people think that the most detrimental consequence of leaving them out is that they get loose and that they're brought into the shelter and you can just pick them up the next day, but unfortunately a lot of times that isn't the case. They get hit by a car. We had a dog two summers ago that actually broke off of a steel chain because it was so frightened from the fireworks and it actually ended up attacking and killing another dog. So there's so many different reasons to keep your dogs contained inside the house. It's safest for your animal and it's safest for other animals as well. If your dog or cat does get out and you're trying to locate them, what we would encourage you to do is go online to the Denver Animal Shelter website and you can find photos and ID numbers for your dog or cat there. We don't actually encourage to call 3-1-1 or non-emergency dispatch just because their lines get tied up. So all of their information is updated constantly all day every single day so you'll be able to find them easiest that way. And so now I'll turn this over to 9-1-1. Good afternoon. My name is Andrew Dameron. I am the director of Denver 9-1-1. The 4th of July is one of the busiest times of year for us at 9-1-1. Over the holiday weekend and the holiday after, we will get somewhere around 7,000 calls a day. And a large portion of those will be folks reporting illegal fireworks. For that reason, as we have in years past, we've created a fireworks hotline. That phone number is 720-913-2059. Again, that's 720-913-2059. If you dial 911 simply to report illegal fireworks and you don't have an emergency, you could prevent someone with an actual life of death emergency from getting through to a call taker in a timely manner. So for that reason, we ask please that if you are calling to report illegal fireworks, you utilize that hotline. One more time, that's 720-913-2059. And with that, I will pass it off to Jay Anderson with the Denver Police Department. Good afternoon, everyone. Technician Anderson, Denver Police. I'm assigned to Southwest Denver and District 4. As has been said before, I'll reiterate it again. Fireworks to possess, sell or use fireworks in the city limits of Denver is illegal. And if you are caught with fireworks, you could be punished up to $1,000 fine and possibly a year in jail. So try to enjoy the holiday without the use of fireworks and just with family and friends. Aside from the fireworks, it also causes a lot of medical emergencies. As I was stated before by my partners with the paramedics, we'll also see a lot of alcohol-related incidents. So if you plan on drinking using marijuana and you can't find a ride, there's always rideshare apps that are available for that or just stay home. Because before responding to those types of situations that we're not responding to other calls for service, these types of calls can be avoided. Again, I'm going to go with that number. If you wish to report anything, that's 720-913-2059. And that's the hotline. Now, you're not going to get an immediate response from that, but we do monitor that hotline. Another way to report is denvergov.org. Now remember, if you want to file a complaint on a fireworks complaint, you need to file a written complaint for us to take action. Otherwise, we cannot charge anybody with the fireworks complaint if we don't have a sign signature. So with that, I wish everybody a happy holiday and a safe one. So the question was asked if we're expecting to see incidents of fireworks increase within the city where we're seeing more and more people light them off over the next weekend. We absolutely are expecting to see that. That's why we're trying to get out here ahead of the holiday weekend to make sure that we can just encourage everybody to be looking after their neighbors, looking after their families. We do want everybody to have a fun, safe holiday weekend. It's not that we don't want people to enjoy themselves, but we do expect to see incidences of fireworks increase. And so we want to remind everybody that it is illegal within the city and county of Denver. So we're not, the camera's getting the best that it can. And right now, I mean, we're able to easily get 700 degrees out of these sparklers just right at the spot. So even when you're looking at some of the most mundane fireworks that are out there, there's potential for injury and all the fireworks just reiterates why there's importance in letting the professionals do the fireworks and just taking care of your family and keeping everybody safe.