Once the sun goes down on the Fourth of July in Tucson, people turn west toward ‘A’ Mountain, also known as Sentinel Peak, for the fireworks display, to end the holiday with a bang. The Tucson Fire Department oversees the setup of these fireworks and starts the display around 9:15 p.m.
Finding the best place to watch fireworks for Independence Day can be hard in Tucson. The downtown area becomes busy, some parks with a good view may be too crowded, and leaving the site after, in all the traffic, may make the fireworks seem not quite as fun anymore.
One solution that involves not leaving campus is watching the fireworks go off from University of Arizona garages facing west, according to Elisa Tapia, UA Parking and Transportation Services program coordinator.
“We find that the best views are on Tyndall Avenue garage and Main Gate garage to see the fireworks shot off on Fourth of July,” Tapia said.
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According to Tapia, PTS allows students and people in the community to enjoy the fireworks from the top floor of the garages — it’s perfectly legal.
“We let people bring their chairs and set up on the garages, but unfortunately no barbecuing up there,” Tapia said.
Sixth Street garage and South Stadium garage are other locations where a watch party can be assembled, according to Tapia.
“We help by blocking off the ramps for access to the garage and we have people monitoring them for safety,” said Tapia. “This is something that PTS does for the community to enjoy the holiday.”
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To prevent wildfires during the show, every year Tucson Fire Department wets down the mountain before setting any fireworks off. According to TFD On Site Inspector, Glenn D’Auria, this year the department doubled up on spraying down the mountain and keeping crews on scene to prevent any brush fires from starting.
“Last year we waited until the fireworks were depleted, then they jumped on [the spot fires], this year we got protective gear so they jump on it if they see a spot fire — right away,” said D’Auria.
Tonight, 969 shots are set to fire up and illuminate Tucson’s night sky for an approximate 25-30 minutes, according to D’Auria.
“As they are lighting them, there’s another team behind them reloading the tubes so they can then light the next,” said D’Auria.
All fireworks are provided by Fireworks Production of Arizona, a Chandler-based company and the show is sponsored by Desert Diamond Casinos and Entertainment.
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