The residents of Auburn who bought fireworks for the Fourth of July and were not able to shoot them off because of the countywide burn ban will finally get their chance to do so this weekend.

Mayor Dewey Roche got together with Auburn Police Chief Scott Ron Mills and the two decided that on Saturday, July 21, all Auburn residents will be allowed to set off fireworks from 9 p.m. to midnight.

“I don’t know if that’s the proper thing to do or not, but it’s what we decided to do,” Roche said. “We thought that if we could just set a day that it might be easier to control.”

Roche said that while there is no law in the books that specifically bans the shooting of fireworks, the city has encouraged residents to just do it on the Fourth of July in the past.

But this year was different with the entire county - including the four incorporated cities - being under a burn ban because of hot, dry conditions in early July.

“We normally have them shoot them off on the Fourth for a day or so,’ Roche said. “But because of the burn ban, this is the first weekend where it has been really safe to shoot them.”

The city of Russellville lifted its ban on fireworks last Friday.

Logan County still remains under a burn ban, however. County judge executive Logan Chick must lift the ban for everyone who does not live inside the limits of an incorporated city.

Roche said he had been worried about people being upset about not being able to shoot fireworks on the Fourth of July, but was pleasantly surprised that most understood why it was forbidden.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Roche said. “I think most level headed people knew that it wasn’t a good idea because it could cause things to catch fire. Of course there was a couple that said they were going to shoot them off anyway - and they probably did.”