By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

Fun, fireworks and food were on display the Fourth of July around the Bonney Lake area and, unlike some previous years, it was sunny and warm without a hint of rain.

Mayor Neil Johnson, Police Chief Mike Mitchell and East Pierce Fire and Rescue firefighters spent time with the Cedar Ridge neighborhood parade and carnival, which also included Fir Ridge residents. Johnson was the parade's grand marshal.

Julie Summers, a resident of Cedar Ridge, said the parade and festivities have been going on in the neighborhood for 16 years.

This year the Fourth of July came and went with fewer major problems, according to Mitchell, although there was a considerable medical and fire activity for East Pierce Fire and Rescue.

Police enforcement of the rewritten fireworks code did not pose any serious issues for the police department, according to Mitchell. The chief said officers concentrated on Lake Tapps water safety and Allan Yorke Park.

Mitchell said the marine unit was on the lake for extra hours and more officers were assigned to walk around the park.

&#8220One group came in early (to Allan Yorke Park) and one of them went to jail, then the rest left,” Mitchell said. &#8220We made a statement right off the bat. We had a big presence at the park.”

East Pierce Fire and Rescue workers were kept busy responding to both fire and emergency medical calls. According to East Pierce Fire Chief Dan Packer, the department fielded three times the number of calls on the Fourth as it does on other days.

&#8220Fortunately there were no fatalities and no reported emergencies on the lake,” Packer said.

During the day, crews responded to four motorcycle accidents in the Bonney Lake area, and two were taken to trauma centers with life-threatening injuries.

Fireworks caused numerous injuries according to the department, mainly burns along with eye and finger injuries. According to East Pierce, one man was severely injured when a mortar-type device burned his thigh and a woman received burns to her face when a misguided firework struck her in the mouth.

Fire crews responded to several grass fires during the evening. A mobile home was destroyed by a fire that was started by fireworks. No one was injured in the blaze, which left the occupants homeless.

East Pierce Fire Marshal and Assistant Chief Barry Barquest said arson was to blame for a fire at Sumner Junior High School. Crews extinguished the blaze just before it spread to the school.

Thursday, a group of children shooting bottle rockets near the 14000 block of 263rd Avenue East ignited a grass fire, which quickly traveled across a steep bank below the road.

The East Pierce Wildland Team put out the fire, which threatened several homes.

&#8220We got lucky. Had there been just a little breeze, that fire could have destroyed several homes in a nearby development, ” Packer said.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.