If moving to a new community isn't difficult enough, Trevor Gerber's family has found it a challenge adapting to at least one tradition in their neighborhood -- Lehi's observance of Independence Day.

He finally spoke out at a City Council meeting about the problem.

"I'm wondering how popular that tradition is if it requires police protection," Gerber said.

He moved to his northeast Lehi home in the spring of 2002 and on July 4 he was startled out of his sleep by a loud explosion.

Municipal firefighters have sent 12-15 salutes at 6 a.m. throughout Lehi since the early 1900s carrying on a tradition that may have begun by city pioneers in 1876, the country's centennial.

Gerber asked if the practice of setting off explosions early in the morning on July 4 could be stopped.

"It has been a tradition for as long as I can remember," Councilman Johnny Barnes said. "There are many who are passionate about it, but there are many people who are passionate about their sleep."

Councilman Mark Johnson said after a while the problem does go away. "I would say after eight years you get used to it," he said.

City administrator Jamie Davidson took Gerber's contact information and said he would look into the matter.

"I think it's inconvenient for residents of Lehi," Gerber said in a phone interview about the custom. He said he also wondered if the money for the cost of the explosives could be better used elsewhere.

The expense for the salutes is included in the cost of the Thanksgiving Point fireworks which the city pays for as a community celebration.

"Our firefighters welcome the tradition and look forward to shooting them off," Fire Chief Dale Ekins said. "We do not look at this tradition as an irritant to our citizens, but a reminder of our freedoms and what the holiday means."

Firing off salutes in Lehi on the Fourth goes back more than two or three generations.

The earliest recorded celebration on July 4 is noted in Lehi historian Richard Van Wagoner's book "Lehi: Portrait of a Utah Town." By their standards, Lehi pioneers may have thought today's 10-15 salutes at 6 a.m. a weak beginning for a federal holiday.

In 1876, the town of approximately 1,200 observed Independence Day by firing 100 guns in honor of the number of years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For a climactic finish, an anvil was fired by lighting a charge of black powder under it causing a "clap like thunder."

Ten years later it is also recorded that those first settlers celebrated the Fourth of July by firing a cannon in the early morning hours and unfurling the United States flag with the accompaniment of brass and string bands; and in 1903, a 13-gun salute was fired at dawn with a 45-gun salute at sunrise.

"They used to ring the bell and shoot the muskets off in front of the fire house," Kerry Evans, fire marshal, said. "It's a patriotic symbol of our freedoms."

The tradition may be more than patriotic, because it is also a time when the firefighters can celebrate the holiday with their families. After the salutes are given, a signal that the fire department is on duty, the day has begun, firefighters and their families meet at the fire station for breakfast.

"We usually have a good turnout of our members," Ekins said. "It is a good time to involve the families with our firefighters."

The families go home after the meal and the firefighters work on what was one of the busiest days of the year, said Ekins. Often they were called out while monitoring or shooting off the city's fireworks, to a douse a fire or respond to a holiday accident.

"As our town grows, we are getting busier, but our full time members have decreased our response time by better than half of what we used to be," Ekins said. "We are on scene at an average of 5-6 minutes rather than our time of 11-12 minutes before we had firefighters full time."

Fireworks restrictions

Fire Chief Dale Ekins has restricted fireworks because of the extreme fire danger in some areas of Lehi City. Any of the area north of State route 92 such as Traverse Mountain and IM Flash, and 1200 East and 300/600 east in the hollows or dips of the terrain are off limits for any type of fireworks. These areas are prime for big fire problems if something gets started, he said. These are the same areas made off limits in 2006.