Only you can prevent wildfires. And measles.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was correct, and bold, Thursday in issuing a statewide emergency order banning fireworks through July 5 — an order that allows local officials to provide carve-outs for displays deemed safe.

But Utahns shouldn’t have needed that official nudge to see the obvious and act accordingly.

A parched Utah landscape and human foolishness have combined to ignite more than 350 wildfires, consuming more than 140,000 acres, up and down the state. Human activities — campfires, target shooting and fireworks — have sparked most of the blazes.

One fire was clearly visible to Salt Lake City residents as it consumed dry brush on the hills above the University of Utah. Another at Eagle Point Resort, east of Beaver, has been designated the worst in state history in terms of property damage. Families had little time to flee as a fire bore down on the small town of Eureka.

Firefighters and other emergency workers have had to deal with heat, smoke, wind — and the occasional rattlesnake — as they make herculean efforts to put out, or at least hold back, the infernos.

The least the rest of us can do is not make it worse. No open fires. No target shooting. No dragging chains from vehicles. And, yes, despite the holidays, no private fireworks.

Exercising our rights as Americans does not include doing things that are far too likely to cause major property damage, and possible loss of life, near and far.

And modern flying drone shows are more entertaining anyway.

A duty to protect the rest of the community also means getting every eligible person vaccinated for measles. The once-eradicated disease is spreading through the state, threatening children and other vulnerable people with sickness, deafness, even death.

The reason: Too many people are refusing to be vaccinated or to have their children vaccinated when they are old enough. No responsible authority, including the current regime at the Centers for Disease Control, advises anything other than universal vaccination.

Public safety and public health require private responsibility.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence, which we supposedly celebrate next week, pledged to one another “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

It’s not too much to ask that we today pledge to one another an abstinence from starting fires and spreading disease.

Editorials represent the opinions of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom.