Parades and rodeos still went forward, but it was noticeably quieter in the city for one reason this year — the continuation of a ban on the discharge of fireworks.

Ogden and many Northern Utah cities opted to continue the ban on the discharge of commercial fireworks after Gov. Spencer Cox encouraged cities to implement extra or full restrictions on fireworks around Pioneer Day based on the conditions on the ground.

And how did Ogden residents do with the full-city restrictions around Pioneer Day?

According to Ogden City Fire Chief Mike Slater — very well.

“The community really responded,” he told the Standard-Examiner on Monday. “Most of them were on board to follow the ban that was in place.”

He said there were no firework-related fires reported in Ogden during the Pioneer Day discharge period. By contrast, the Ogden City Fire Department reported two minor fireworks-related fires during the Independence Day discharge period this year, during which there was also a city-wide ban.

“Crews were still busy running medicals,” Slater said. “There’s obviously been quite a few vegetation fires within the county, but nothing related to fireworks. So we’re extremely appreciative of the community’s willingness to respond and understanding that this is a very unique year and we all have a part to keep our community safe.”

He said that there were reports called into Weber County Dispatch of people shooting off fireworks, but was unsure of exactly how many complaints were received during the period.

The fireworks restrictions came at a precarious time for the region. This month alone, the Ogden area saw several short-lived but dramatic wildfires that have destroyed property and left one person dead.

Slater said that the denial of another source of potential fires has been an immense help in mitigating the risks.

“I think anytime you take an ignition source away, whether it be fireworks or open flames in certain areas of our wildland or interface, then you obviously reduce the risk of a start, a fire start,” he said. “I can’t thank the community enough for what they’ve done. If you’ve seen what’s happened, we had a fire just (Monday) in Washington Terrace that took resources from all of the numerous counties. We had the Mountain Road Fire just a little while ago that took up resources from across the county and state. They had the fire in Roy and on Hinckley Drive that took resources. So we know that the propensity for a fire is there. I think it’s just a tinderbox waiting for an ignition source. So any small step that we could take actually has a huge impact on preventing fires.”

He said the department also received a lot of help throughout the discharge period.

“I’m proud of our firefighters for staying vigilant, being out and making sure that they’re patrolling the areas,” he said. “I’m proud of OPD for doing the same. And I think that collective effort between public safety, between the community, and everybody just doing their part to help prevent the disaster in Ogden City.”

The Standard-Examiner also reached out to the Ogden City Police Department about enforcement of the ban and if any citations were issued during the Pioneer Day discharge period, but received no response as of press time.