Rockford Fire Department gets ready for July 4th

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford Fire was ready to go as it was all hands on deck keeping the community safe this Fourth of July.

“(From) what I understand, (from) about 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., there’ll be some extra manpower downtown,” said Rockford Fire Department Lieutenant Alan Granite.

There is extra staffing downtown for the parade or fireworks, and other stations have more manpower.

“Each company, especially the downtown companies and the Amazons, are sort of planning on different routes that they may have to take tonight as people are crowding downtown to watch the fireworks and watch the parade and stuff like that,” said Granite.

For those not at the parade, barbeque gatherings and even fireworks were common issues on this day.

“There is a potential for fireworks-related issues,” said Granite “I’ve been on some fires over the years that were basically caused by fireworks, you know, whether it was landing on a roof or on a deck and sitting there in smoldering or some dry grass.”

Even while working on the 4th of July, they do their best to celebrate.

“Whether you’re working the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you know, you find a way to celebrate with family and friends and other days or this is like our second family here at the station,” said Granite.

“It’s just another day. “We’re here,” said Rockford Fire’s Fank DeCastris. “We do cookouts and kind of just hang out like we would minus our families. But we’re all kind of a family here.”

The firefighters said they are watching the fireworks all while they are keeping the community safe.

“We can see them from the apron here, or maybe we’ll head down South Main a little bit and go to the parking lot of the grocery store or something, just so that we can park in such a way that we can get out if we have to in a hurry,” said Granite “But it’s sort of a neat vantage point to see the fireworks right downtown, right close.”

The lieutenant mentioned a reminder to those who had large gatherings tonight, to double-check that your grill is off. Make sure there are no smoldering rocks left and anything else that may cause a fire before you head in for the night.