Who doesn’t love an exciting fireworks display?

Other than pets, wildlife, veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, first responders responding to fires and the nearly 15,000 people treated in emergency rooms for fireworks injuries each year, the answer is likely most of us, myself included. Nothing brings The Star-Spangled Banner — which Congress adopted as the national anthem only two years before Nevada adopted Home Means Nevada as its state song in 1933 — to life like the glares of rockets as bombs burst in air.

Unlike many of our national “traditions,” such as the national anthem and freedom of the press, fireworks and Independence Day have been together since the very beginning. In 1777, fireworks displays were used to celebrate Independence Day in Philadelphia and Boston. Since then, Americans have heeded John Adams’ admonition to celebrate Independence Day “with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Why mess with tradition, right?

The answer is because, unlike Boston or Philadelphia, Nevada is a rather notoriously flammable desert state. Following our most recent Independence Day, a hill near Carson City caught fire. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, meanwhile, responded to 116 outside fires, seven building fires and two burn injuries within the City of Las Vegas. Henderson and North Las Vegas fire departments, meanwhile, responded to dozens of fires that day, including multiple fireworks-related injury calls.

Adding insult to injury, a barge containing more than 1,200 fireworks capsized in Lake Tahoe after a fierce storm. Ironically, the environmental impact of the detonation of those fireworks on the lake’s health was supposed to be studied this year.

Since fireworks are frequently imported from China, they’re also growing increasingly expensive as President Donald Trump’s likely illegal and ever-escalating tariffs bite into the celebratory budgets of public governments and private citizens.

There are, however, alternatives to loud, flammable and increasingly expensive fireworks shows.

One increasingly popular option is drone light shows. First introduced domestically in 2016 and subsequently featured during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, drones can be used in increasingly elaborate and colorful formations that no fireworks show can match. 

For example, in a recent drone light show in China, a single laptop was used to coordinate more than 7,500 drones as they displayed dragons, tigers and slogans. Weeks later, an even larger drone light show featuring more than 10,000 drones celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

I bring up China because the country isn't just the source of most of the world’s fireworks. The country is also the source of more than 90 percent of the world’s small commercial drones, such as those used in drone light shows — and both sides of the Ukraine-Russia war. Since China has been more consistently supportive of Russia’s efforts to invade Ukraine than Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself, Ukraine has been forced to develop an increasingly robust domestic production capacity that now promises to produce 4.5 million drones this year — but it took more than a decade of dedicated effort and investment for that goal to become realistic.

By comparison, U.S. firms likely can’t produce more than 100,000 drones in any given year.

There have been some efforts to redevelop domestic drone production capabilities. In December 2024, during the latter months of the Biden administration, Congress passed the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act, which, among other things, imposed a one year deadline for an “appropriate national security agency” to determine if drones manufactured in China pose an “unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” If a determination is not made, further sales of Chinese drones will be banned in the United States.

Six months later, no such agency has been identified — and that’s making Chinese drone manufacturers nervous.

What’s missing, however, is a commitment to increase demand for American drones — which brings me back to Independence Day celebrations.

Fireworks are becoming increasingly expensive at the same time that Nevada’s cities and towns are facing increasingly troubled budgets. Reno and Sparks are facing budget shortfalls that will likely lead to layoffs and staff shortages. Fireworks are also bad for the mental health of our most vulnerable residents, including combat veterans, bad for our pets, bad for our wildlife and bad for our environment.

At the same time, the United States desperately needs to develop and grow a domestic drone production capacity, one capable of serving and defending this nation against a potential adversary that has already demonstrated the ability to deploy and coordinate more than 10,000 drones in a single celebration — and the ability to help produce millions more for belligerents in the battlefield.

That’s why Nevada’s communities should publicly commit to replacing Chinese-made fireworks with American-made drones for next year’s Independence Day celebrations.

David Colborne ran for public office twice. He is now an IT manager, the father of two sons, and a recurring opinion columnist for The Nevada Independent. You can follow him on Mastodon @[email protected], on Bluesky @davidcolborne.bsky.social, on Threads @davidcolbornenv or email him at [email protected]. You can also message him on Signal at dcolborne.64.