Coquitlam had a few more revellers at its Canada Day fireworks display Wednesday night after Port Coquitlam suddenly cancelled its light show.
High wind gusts and dry weather caused PoCo Fire and Emergency Services to scrap that city's annual July 1 fireworks display, which was set to begin at 10 p.m. at Castle Park.
That meant Coquitlam was the only municipality in the Tri-Cities to have a show, the sounds of which could be heard in PoCo and PoMo.
PoCo deputy fire chief Terry Hochstetter told The Tri-City News on Thursday he made the call to the city shortly before 7 p.m. as his crews were en route to a house fire on Burns Road, in the north part of Port Coquitlam.
"I have been up to Castle Park every year for Canada Day," he said, "and, this year, there were very strong winds that the trees were bending east."
The tall, dry grass also caused a hazard to the homes nearby.
Hochstetter said with so many distress calls happening that day to respond to fires, car accidents and assaults, he didn't want to take the risk and have property damaged during the fireworks as well. As a result, the live music sets ran longer.
A few hundred people were in the park at the time the cancellation announcement was made; city officials and Mayor Greg Moore also took to Facebook and Twitter to spread the message.
The PoCo fire department volunteers its time to help Sunset Fireworks with the pyrotechnics. The cost for this year's show was $10,000, which was funded by the Onni Group and Canadian Heritage.
Meanwhile, several thousand revellers gathered at Coquitlam's Town Centre Park to celebrate Canada's 148th year with pyrotechnics.
Presented by Concept Fiatlux Inc., the display was held on the west side of Lafarge Lake this year.
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