Last year fire danced in the sky on top of a ten yard stack of wood pallets, wooden chairs, and even a rowboat. Instead of a typical July 3rd in Humarock, Massachusetts, hundreds of police from Cohasset, Duxbury, Scituate, Hingham and even Plymouth survey the area monitoring the fires and ready to make arrests. The regulation stems from the Mar. 8 2012 wildfire-like blaze that started at one house on Humarock and quickly spread to three more, destroying the homes. Once officials realized the potential danger that the annual bonfires brought, they banned the yearly celebration.

For anyone who has ever been down to Humarock for the July 3rd celebration, it is just that: an extreme celebration. Hundreds of bodies line the beach with cookouts and fireworks, but most distinctively, the blazing stacks of fire that are uncomparable to the average beach pit bonfire. Ten yards of chairs and wood pallets, and even in one case, a mattress, are vertically stacked on top of each other and set ablaze.

Junior Zac Perfetti recalls staying out until 4:30 a.m. in sixth grade waiting for the bonfires to cease, and just having a great time. He predicts that this year people are still going to try and have bonfires. “It always used to be everyone gathered together and got wood and tried to make the biggest fire out of anything available,” Perfetti said. “Police used to help us, too, and made sure it didn’t get out of hand- everything was regulated and in control. Everyone’s probably going to try again this year, it just won’t be as heavy.”

Humarock citizens were quick to put up a fight. One person made a banner out of wood pallets, the same material commonly used for bonfires, and painted it stating, “Land of the Free”, with emphasis on the free. For people who had been performing this ritual for decades, they were not happy about the regulations. Humarock citizen Junior Nick Buckell said, “Its a tradition! We’ve done it for so many years and nothing bad has happened, and now theres an unrelated fire and they shut everything down so quickly, its not fair.”

One argument being made is that the bonfires have been going on for decades, and no one has gotten seriously injured or hurt- so why are the people of Humarock being reprimanded? While people have made bad decisions in the past, such as throwing fireworks into the bonfires and excitedly awaiting the result, no one has gotten hurt and police have always been there to save the day if anything got out of hand. However, last year police weren’t taking the same friendly approach, and weren’t putting up with any sass or wood pallet banners  from the Humarock natives.

This upcoming third of July, many questions are up in the air. Regardless of whether extreme bonfires will be attempted or if the police are going to be strict, the holiday shouldn’t be about who can stack the highest wood and ignite it on fire. It’s all about appreciating America the beautiful, home of the free because of the brave.