Four fireworks booths, scattered throughout the City of Escalon, are open for business through July 4.

Sales of the ‘Safe and Sane’ fireworks, which are allowed within the city limits, began at noon on Wednesday, June 28 and run through midnight on Tuesday, July 4.

One booth is always set aside for the Escalon Parks Foundation as it continues raising money for construction of a skatepark. Their booth is in the 2200 block of Jackson Avenue, set up in the Escalon Center parking lot adjacent to D’Boni’s Pizza and Hula’s.

Also running fireworks booths this year are the Escalon Sports Boosters, the Van Allen Parent Teacher Club and the El Portal Parent Teacher Club.

The Escalon Sports Boosters booth is set up at MarVal Main Street Market in the 1900 block of McHenry Avenue. The Van Allen Parent Teacher Club booth is at Ace Hardware, 3360 McHenry Ave., and the El Portal Parent Teacher Club booth is on the west side of town. Along Highway 120, it is set up just across the railroad tracks as you head west out of town, where the former Red Barn produce/antique barn is located.

And as the community gets ready to celebrate the Independence Day holiday, Escalon Fire Chief Rick Mello is urging caution, both in the use of fireworks and in heading out to cool off during an anticipated surge of hot weather during the next week.

National Weather Service forecasters are predicting the region will soar past the 100-degree mark, for the first time this summer, with 104 forecast on Friday, June 30. Saturday the high is predicted to be 107, with 106 on Sunday and 101 on Monday, before finally dipping down into the upper 90s on Tuesday, July 4.

The Escalon Library at 1540 Second Street, officials said, will be available as a designated Cooling Center on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for those residents that need a respite from the triple digit heat.

“For the Fourth of July, it goes without saying, we’re not trying to ruin people’s fun but we do want to keep them from burning up their stuff or their neighbor’s stuff,” Mello said. “People are amazed at how well a green tree will burn; they will go up like a torch.”

The chief reiterated that only the Safe and Sane fireworks can be used in the city limits.

“And even those are illegal in the rural areas,” Mello said of the Safe and Sane fireworks. “All kinds are.”

Escalon Police typically respond to multiple complaints of illegal fireworks in the days leading up to and on the Fourth of July; they also urge residents to play it safe and use only the legal fireworks, under adult supervision.

“We always have complaints about the illegal ones,” Mello agreed, “those are the ones that leave the ground, bottle rockets or mortars people bring in from out of state. It’s better to be safe and sane.”

The chief also said with the river continuing to run fast, high and cold, people should avoid going in altogether at this time and instead seek out the use of a pool to cool off.

“Our boat has been in the water six or seven times already, which is well over what we typically do in an entire season,” Mello said.