BURNING ISSUE: Firefighters across Ventura County are...

BURNING ISSUE: Firefighters across Ventura County are bracing for a heavy workload tonight. Illegal fireworks and firecrackers sparked about 25 small fires in the county last year and sent five people to the hospital. . . . Fourth of July mishaps have dropped dramatically over the past decade as cities have banned fireworks. Officials warn that Fillmore is the only place in the county where fireworks are legal. Oxnard Fire Chief Henry Lenhart’s advice: “Go to one of the professional fireworks shows and enjoy yourself.”

INDEPENDENCE DAY: You’ve heard it before: Political agitators pushed for local government rule. Taxation was a big issue. But this time, the separatists were local residents pushing to secede from Santa Barbara County (B1). . . . It took a couple of tries in the Legislature, but Ventura County finally came into its own in 1873. When the news reached Ventura, great bonfires fed with petroleum lit up the skies, the Santa Barbara Times reported. “There was a general and promiscuous jollification, lasting away into the night.”

FIRED UP: All the attention on the World Cup has pumped up interest in soccer. . . . Sporting goods stores report swift sales of soccer gear. And the phones never seem to quit ringing at Soccer Direct, which runs soccer camps in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo for players ages 5 to 18. “Whenever there is a full day of coverage on ESPN, we get more calls,” camp owner George Kuntz said.

RUSSIAN MISSION: Two Russian military officers slipped past security gates onto the Point Mugu Navy Base over the weekend. . . . But no one was concerned. Maj. Gen. Yuri Ivanovich Savin and Maj. Svetlana Nikolaevna Churkanova were invited on base to learn tips from the Navy on how to preserve wetlands. Spokesman Alan Alpers agrees that it’s unusual to have Russians on a base that sprung up during the Cold War. He said, however: “There isn’t anything in the environmentally protected areas that you cannot see from a satellite.”

TONIGHT: Fireworks shows in Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura. Details, B2

A Fiery Fourth?

Blazes caused by fireworks and firecrackers in 1993.

Thousand Oaks: 8

Oxnard: 6

Fillmore: 5

Simi Valley: 4

Ojai: 2

Oak Park: 1

Port Hueneme: 1

Moorpark: 1

Point Mugu: 1

Note: Statistics unavailable in Santa Paula.

Source: Area fire departments