Carson City Sheriff: Sufficient notice not given ahead of Saturday night fireworks display
A fireworks event that happened Saturday night at the Carson City Airport caught many by surprise, including Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong.
The weekend's largest amount of emergency calls to dispatch happened early Saturday night when 911 dispatch was inundated with citizens reporting explosions, gunfire and cannon fire. Furlong noted while there had been city agency transmissions regarding the event and it was on record to happen, the memorial fireworks display had not been adequately made public.
Furlong said he would take the incident to Carson City city leaders and discuss how something like Saturday night can better be broadcasted to the public, via public notice, and through the media. He said the fireworks display had most everyone in the residential areas concerned about what was going on simply because they were not told what was going on. Go here for the original story.
"Carson City has fireworks displays on holidays such as July 4 and Nevada Day, but a display in February doesn't happen and that is what caught everyone by surprise," said Furlong, noting a fireworks display at the Carson City Airport is especially unusual.
Furlong said that while the event had been permitted, the public had not been given adequate notice.
Dozens of calls were made to 911 dispatch regarding the memorial event, that happened at around 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
The fireworks were part of a memorial service for Ted Melsheimer, a longtime supporter of the Carson City Airport who had a B-25 Bomber "Tootsie" that was often seen in the skies around Carson City and air shows. The Carson City Airport Authority approved the fireworks display.
Many callers reported they thought they heard a cannon go off or gunshots fired. Pet owners around the airport chimed in on Carson Now's Facebook page about the event and lack of public notice.