With the Fourth of July landing on a Friday this year, there were fears by some officials that fireworks-related problems on South Whidbey would surpass the norm.

It didn’t happen.

“It was kind of quiet, all things considered,” said Fire District 3 Deputy Chief Jon Beck.

“I think all the rain we got last Thursday was our saving grace. That, plus a heightened awareness from the media about the forest fires in California,” he said.

Beck said that despite what seemed a record number of people visiting the island, not a single beach fire was reported.

“We certainly want to thank folks for tending to their camp fires and cleaning up their debris,” Beck said.

Island County Undersheriff Kelly Mauk was also surprised.

“Countywide, we had 89 fireworks-related calls from July 3 to July 6,” Mauk said. “Of that, 34 were on Camano Island.”

Most of the calls were people reporting loud noise or possible illegal fireworks going off. Mauk said most of the problems were solved by a visit to the offender; much of the time police found the fireworks to be legal.

“But we had no arrests on July 4 and that’s kind of unusual and a good thing,” he said.

At Whidbey General Hospital, spokeswoman Trish Rose reported three people over three days were admitted for fireworks-related injuries; two injuries to the eyes and a burned hand. None were serious.

“I think people took warnings to heart this year,” she said.