"To date in 2012, more than 173,000 acres have already burned in Colorado, destroying more than 600 homes and taken six lives, 7News reports. Now with 4th of July approaching, the heat combined with relative low humidity and unseasonable dryness has firefighters saying that fireworks are "not worth the risk" this year during the worst wildfire season in a decade."

""In the city of Colorado Springs fireworks are always illegal,"Sunny Smaldino with the Colorado Springs Fire Department told The Associated Press. "We do ask for people to apply for a permit if they are going to do a public display or a private display in their neighborhood. This year we didn't issue any of those permits simply because of our conditions -- it's not worth the risk." "

Huffington Post had the story July 3, 2012. [2]