Fourth Of July

Ralston Fire and Rescue helps celebrate with the City of Ralston’s Fourth of July Parade. Residents, visitors and members participle in a 5K Fun Run the morning of the celebration. Crews then prepare for the parade lineup! We are joined every year by other suburban and rural departments. After the parade members gear up for the Water Fights – a competition among departments to see who has the most elite fire attack team. The City of Ralston puts on a free firework show that evening.

Our Independence holiday celebration is well renown, but first responders know too well it’s a busy day due to high potential for outdoor activity and accidents. If you make it out please stay hydrated and practice safety with fireworks. You can see our members out on patrol through the Ralston area sporting medi-bikes, ambulances, and fire engines.

Water Fights

Firefighter Water Fights are held after the parade concludes. Many teams competing including upwards o12 in the men’s division and five in the women’s division. Men’s division teams included: Springfield Fire, Ralston Fire, Valley Fire, Yutan Fire and Bellevue Fire. Women’s division teams included Valley Fire, Springfield Fire and Ralston Fire.

Firework and Firearm Amnesty Day

Every ninth of July Ralston Vol. Fire Department joins with Omaha Police and other metro organizations for Firework Amnesty Day. Members of the community are invited to turn in any unwanted – legal or illegal – firearms, weapons, ammunition or fireworks. Drop off location is in the parking lot of Seymour Smith Park. For more information and review the news story here.

How did Amnesty Day get its start in Ralston?

At approximately 05:00 pm on July 4th, 2005 Ralston Fire/Rescue received a call for a child injured by fireworks.

“When the call went off, I was thinking it was a kid who had a minor fire cracker injury. I told my father-n-law to watch the hamburgers and I would be back soon,” recalled Kyle Ienn. He continued, “I walked to the back yard with Ralston Police and found a 13 year old child lying on the ground with a large hole in his side. His dad was at his side trying to comfort him as his son lied on the ground dying.”

The child was rushed to an emergency trauma center with life threatening injuries. Occupants did not know where the firework came from, only that it landed in the pool where the innocent child was swimming.

“I turned to the Ralston Police officer on scene and told him I was not leaving the scene until we find out where this explosive firework came from and who shot it off. He thought I was kidding. We were there for the next 12 hours.”  

The State Fire Marshal, Omaha Bomb Squad and the Federal ATF gained a search warrant at 2:00 am and discovered the biggest catch of illegal explosives the State Fire Marshal has ever encountered. At this time it was not known if the child would make it. 

“The Mayor and I visited the child in the hospital a couple days after the incident. I promised him that when he was released, I would see to it that we give him a ride home on a fire truck. All he talked about leading up was wanting to go see his late grandma because the pain was too much. He wanted to die. His mother contacted us shortly after to report that all her son had been talking about now is a ride home in the fire truck. He immediately started to improve and when he was released Ralston Fire was there to give him a ride home. Every member wanted to go. Shortly after his release members of the department hosted a Pancake feed at our station to raise money for the family’s medical bills. He attended our pancake feed and received a standing ovation as he walked in. I know every member that was on the call had tears in their eyes. I sure did.”

March of the following year Ralston Fire held the first Firework Amnesty Day with the goal of collecting unused fireworks and promoting firework safety. We had an overwhelming turnout filling the State Fire Marshal’s trailer as well as numerous buckets of shells, bullets, guns etc.

Omaha Police soon joined our annual mission and worked with us to get unused fireworks, ammunition, and guns off the street. Omaha PD took over coordination and grew three sites: Seymour Smith Park, 102nd & Fort St, as well as a Council Bluffs location.