ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Fire Department had to extinguish 45 more fires this Fourth of July compared to the 2019 holiday.
In a tweet, the fire department said its firefighters were called to 122 total fires, a more than 50% increase from the 77 fires of the previous year.
The fire department said they responded to:
- Eight building or garage fires, six fewer than 2019
- 72 dumpster fires, 18 more than 2019
- 15 rubbish fires, which the fire department did not include in its 2019 count
- 11 vehicle fires, six more than 2019
- 15 grass fires, 11 more than 2019
- One playground fire, which the fire department did not include in its 2019 count
The fire department said it also responded to more medical calls, total suppression incidents and total emergency medical responses than last year.
The fire department also tweeted about responded to more than 50 fires Sunday night.
Fireworks kept the police department busy this weekend as well.
Between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Sunday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded to 956 calls for fireworks. Some of the calls may have been duplicates regarding the same incidents, police said.
The city has seen a significant spike in the number of fireworks calls this year. In 2019, the city reported 197 calls for fireworks from May 1 to June 24. This year, the city reported 880 in that same time period.
