A fourth of July celebration event went up in flames this weekend.

Late Saturday evening, during the City of Williston’s annual firework display at the Fairgrounds, a nearby lot of grass caught on fire by a firework ember.

Williston Fire Cheif, Matt Clark says no one got hurt, but a significant amount of grass was burned.

Last Friday a firework ban was set into place by the city because of the dry conditions, but Clark says this fireworks display was granted an exception.

He says instances like these prove why the bans put in place are for safety purposes.

“There were still fireworks that were lit off by private residents that went against the ban, but fortunately, I believe we only had one fire response that we responded to, so the numbers themselves were drastically reduced,” Clark said.

Clark says typically on average without a firework ban set in place they could respond to 30 to 50 fire calls on July 4 alone.