Fireworks and Aliens

This 4th of July I'm reminded of the video clip above - it's a scene from Aliens in which the marines' only ship off the planet of monstrous alien creatures has just blown up, and the little girl tells them they have to get inside because the aliens come out at dark. The fire, the smoke, and the dread ... it all reminds me of the coming of darkness that signals the setting off of 3+ hours of fireworks in my neighborhood. Last night many people here set of fireworks ahead of the 4th and the noise was incredible ... the cherry bombs and rockets sounded like nuclear detonations. The stray cats in my yard were terrified, running all around in a frenzy to get away from the explosions, but having no luck because the noise was coming from every side. I can think of lots of practical reasons not to allow private fireworks ... injuries, fires, bad air quality, damage to wildlife ... I hate fireworks :(