Cascade of calls to 911 followed fireworks show heard near Bainbridge, Central Kitsap, North Kitsap
Loud explosions that echoed through the skies over Bainbridge, North Kitsap and the Hood Canal on Saturday were confirmed by the Coast Guard on Wednesday as a private fireworks show put on by Oregon-based Western Display Fireworks.
The company requested a Marine Event Permit from the Coast Guard and described the location of the event for the permit as “Puget Sound West of the Seattle Golf Course,” according to a spokesperson.
There is no "Seattle Golf Course," but the Seattle Golf Club is located in Shoreline, and due west over the water would be near the waters off Suquamish.
The late September fireworks show surprised many on both sides of the water. Kitsap 911 on Tuesday said its dispatchers received 108 total calls in a 30-minute timeframe during the 9 o'clock hour on Saturday night, according to a response to a public records request by the Kitsap Sun.
Many of those calls came from Bainbridge Island, asking about "loud noises," "crashing/rumbling," "explosions" that were "not fireworks," and "something flying in the sky," according to records of calls from Kitsap 911.
Kitsap 911 was not notified of the event ahead of time, according to the agency.
Western Display Fireworks stated in the permit that the fireworks would be fired from a 270-foot by 60-foot barge and that it would be utilizing a King County Marine Patrol boat for any safety concerns, according to the Coast Guard.
KUOW reported this week that shells for the show were loaded onto a tug in Ballard, and that the tug then delivered the shells toward the north end of Bainbridge Island, stopping 9,400 feet offshore and north of Fay Bainbridge Park.
As a result of the event, the Coast Guard notified its "Vessel Traffic Service," according to the spokesperson, who said that was necessary because the area in the permit was close to the "traffic separation scheme," or a marine area where a master or person in charge of a vessel must exercise particular caution.
Social media in Kitsap erupted with queries over the noise; posters who reported hearing it were in locations that included Central Kitsap, Seabeck and North Kitsap in addition to Bainbridge Island.
Western Display Fireworks boasts on its website that it "offers full-service pyrotechnic displays, custom designed to complement your event theme and venue." It says it provides "preparation and payment for all required state and local permits."
According to the Coast Guard's online Marine Event Permit, the application must be filed 135 days prior to the event, and that a permit must be filed when the event "will introduce extra or unusual hazards to the safety of life on the navigable waters of the United States," according to the Coast Guard's website.
It's not the first time a non-Fourth of July fireworks display has prompted questions. A Kitsap Sun article from 1998 documents efforts to track down the party behind another "lavish" mystery fireworks display that sent people "flocking to the shorelines of South Kitsap, southern Bainbridge Island" on June 20. Western Display Fireworks was the organizer of that show, but it was on behalf of an anonymous party, according to the company's owner, who would only say then in response to much speculation over the purchaser that the paying party is "people who like fireworks."
Kimberly Rubenstein is the local news editor of the Kitsap Sun. She can be reached at kimberly.rubenstein@kitsapsun.com or 360-792-5263. Support coverage of local news by signing up today for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Coast Guard approved fireworks heard near Bainbridge, North Kitsap
