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Pampa reports over 11,500 attendees at Independence Day event; officials highlight safety planning and small fire response
Summary
City staff said the joint chamber/EDC Independence Day event drew an estimated 11,500 people, provided free food and daytime fireworks, and required coordinated safety planning; a small late-night fire was extinguished quickly.
City staff reported to the Pampa City Commission that the city’s joint Independence Day celebration — coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Corporation and city departments — drew an estimated 11,500 people over the day and proceeded with no major incidents, though a small late-night fire briefly hampered the fireworks show.
Dustin Miller, who led the report, said the event was intentionally free and family-focused; local donors and partners supplied much of the food and logistics. “This year, we had ATS Tree Service who provided 600 hamburgers and even more hot dogs for free,” Miller told the commission. The event featured daytime fireworks, activities and food so families could spend the full day in the park without paying admission.
Miller said planning emphasized safety: two days before the event he met with the emergency operations center, Pampa Police, emergency management, the fire department, ESU dispatch and Gray County EMS to finalize an incident action plan. The city’s event-permit process requires that large gatherings coordinate safety, Miller said. “Number 1 was safety and security. That’s the first thing we talk about every time,” he said.
Miller reported an attendance estimate of more than 11,500 for the day, up from roughly 10,000 the previous year. He said the EDC uses geofencing software to estimate crowd size and that traffic egress was challenging because a recent TxDOT change reduced westbound lanes near the park; staff and police used shoulder space and temporary merge lanes to manage flow. Miller said a small fire late at night was extinguished by the fire department in about 15 minutes and that the department’s response limited harm and only slightly disrupted the fireworks display.
Commissioners thanked organizers and discussed traffic and exit-flow challenges as an area for future improvement. Miller and staff said they would continue to refine traffic plans with TxDOT and ESU for future events.
