Renton’s ban on fireworks and the city’s education strategy and marketing push was very successful this year in limiting the fire damage caused by fireworks in the city.

According to a report before City Council from Fire Chief Mark Peterson, the fire department was very busy on the holiday, but there were zero fire losses this year, unlike surrounding areas where a fireworks ban is not in place.

Mayor Denis Law agreed that Renton fared “very, very well,” adding that he spent time in the dispatch center on July 4, which was very busy responding to the surrounding towns.

“There were fires all over the place,” Law said of Kent and Skyway in particular. “We were very fortunate.”

In Renton, the department responded to 141 calls on July 4, well above a typical Saturday’s 40-60 calls. Of those, 100 were fireworks complaints. Peterson said about 50 pounds of fireworks were confiscated and 12 citations totaling $2,460 in fines were written.

The Renton fireworks ban has been in place since 2005 and officials were particularly worried this year because of drought conditions that left the entire area tinder-dry.

Because of the potential for disaster, the city began reminding residents of the ban and the dangers early, utilizing message boards and public works sings and printing out 2,500 posters and pamphlets, as well as getting the message out through all of the city’s social media platforms.

Peterson said the key this year was heavy community involvement, due primarily to concerns about the dry conditions. The chief said the public became “marshals on this,” taking the message to their communities at such a rate the department had to print additional posters.

The department also this year implemented a new strategy to respond to fireworks calls, placing three enforcement teams in the parts of the city that last year received the highest fireworks call volume. This year, however, Peterson said the vast majority of calls came from the Highlands so by the end of the evening, all of the response teams were shifted up the hill.

Though the July 4 holiday did not include fireworks-related fires, Peterson said the city did not come through completely unscathed. During the period of June 21 through July 7, there were eight fireworks-related brush fires, a dumpster fire and two structure fires involving a fence and siding on an apartment building that totaled $53,000 in damage.