Fireworks fill the sky during the annual Fourth of July fireworks display over Pilot Butte in 2018.

Officials in Bend and Redmond credited recent fireworks bans with helping keep things relatively quiet over Fourth of July weekend, but conditions in Central Oregon remain ripe for another miserable wildfire season.

“It was much mellower than in years past,” said Trish Connolly, a battalion chief with Bend Fire & Rescue, which responded to just one small fireworks-related call Sunday, and four in the week leading up to the holiday.

Those numbers are down significantly from 2020, when there were six, and 2019, when there were four and the department battled two structure fires at the same time.

In 2018, Bend Fire responded to 14 brush fires, including an 8-acre blaze at the base of Pilot Butte ahead of that evening’s public fireworks display. Emergency personnel were especially busy with fireworks calls that year, with Bend Police Department logging 150 incidents related to fireworks, and Redmond, 50.

This July 4, Redmond Fire Department responded to five fireworks-related calls with no injuries, said Jeff Puller, Redmond assistant fire chief.

“It was actually pretty quiet,” Puller said. “The ban seemed to do its thing.”

Fewer calls on the Fourth allowed the department to keep focused on mop-up activity at the site of the Antler Fire in east Redmond, Puller said.

That fire broke out June 29 in a transient camp in the juniper and sage trees and would burn 100 acres over several days.

That night, the Redmond City Council passed an emergency 60-day ban on the use of fireworks.

With the record heat, dry air and high winds, the council wasn’t ready to take chances, according to Redmond Mayor George Endicott.

“It was that old adage about the perfect storm,” Endicott said.

On June 28, in response to record high temperatures, Bend’s acting city manager, Jon Skidmore, issued an emergency order that included a ban on the use of fireworks. The council will consider ratifying the emergency proclamation at its meeting July 21.

This year, Redmond Police wrote four fireworks citations between July 2 and July 5.

Redmond’s ban is punishable by a $500 fine; Bend’s, a $750 fine.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service reported 12 wildfires had burned 40,000 acres in Oregon and Washington.