A woman who fell off a float during Ketchikan’s annual Fourth of July parade sustained only minor injuries, according to the city’s fire department.
Fire Chief Rick Hines said that the woman did strike her head, so she was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The incident caused a mid-parade delay, which Hines said was largely due to members of a nearby float stopping to help.
“It was really fortunate for her that North Tongass, that’s where North Tongass Fire Department was at in the parade,” Hines said. “And they saw it, so they stopped and rendered aid until we could get there.”
Hines wasn’t sure exactly how the accidental fall happened or which float the woman fell from, but believed it was one of the several Ketchikan High School class reunion floats.
Overall, Hines said the department was predictably busy for the holiday but not overwhelmed. They received 19 calls for assistance on July 4 and 18 the next day. That’s more than double their average for a typical day.
Only three of the holiday calls were fire-related, and while none of them involved fireworks, one did include a fire-powered lantern.
“A Chinese lantern had landed on somebody’s roof, and the lantern was on fire,” Hines said. “So they called us, and we got up on the roof and made sure that it wasn’t on fire.”
Hines said Ketchikan residents are fairly responsible with their pyrotechnics. In his three years on the job, he couldn’t recall any fires started by fireworks.
