KINGSTON – Emergency crews were dispatched to the Port of Kingston’s passenger-only ferry dock to meet a boat carrying two women injured on the fireworks display barge July 4.

North Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews were dispatched at 10:30 p.m. The women told medics that a mortar had misfired, bouncing off of the first woman and striking the second.

The first woman refused medical treatment or transport. The second woman sustained minor burns to her leg and was transported by aid crews to Harrison Medical Center.

Firefighters in Kingston, Hansville, Miller Bay, Indianola and Suquamish reported responding to double the average number of incidents during Fourth of July.

Officials credit the wet weather that preceded the holiday with limiting the number of fireworks-sparked calls, but warn that the advent of summer will quickly zap the moisture from area vegetation.

NKF&R crews responded to an average of about seven calls per day. In the period between 8 a.m. on July 4 and 8 a.m. on July 5, NKF&R firefighters answered 14 emergency calls, spokeswoman Michele Laboda reported. Only two calls involved fireworks.

Thursday morning just after 5:30 a.m., firefighters were called to the backyard of a home at Park Boulevard and Geneva Street in Suquamish where a brush fire had been spotted. Firefighters found evidence of spent fireworks in the immediate vicinity of a mass of dried-out blackberry bushes; although the fire was small, crews had to tunnel in to the thick vegetation to snuff it completely. Crews say that this little blaze – not far from other structures in this area of densely packed homes – could have been much worse under drier conditions, Laboda reported.

Officials believe that the cold and rainy weather of the past few weeks provided enough moisture to reduce fire danger. They caution, however, that fire danger is expected to spike over the weekend with sustained warm and dry weather in the forecast.