Over 260 citations related to illegal fireworks were doled out around Fourth of July this year in five Orange County cities – netting a combined total of over $600,000 in fines.
The tally comes after this year’s eventful Fourth of July weekend, with Santa Ana, Orange and Stanton’s numbers coming up in the hundreds of thousands in administrative fines.
As cities across the county upped efforts to crack down on illegal firework use ahead of America’s 250th birthday, Newport Beach’s Fourth of July “teen takeover” resulted in over 400 arrests, a looted Pavilions grocery store and street fights.
[Read: Newport Beach Eyes Stricter Laws After 400 Arrested in Fourth of July Chaos]
Anaheim handed out 42 citations from July 2-4, resulting in $40,500 in fines related to illegal fireworks. They also confiscated 2,500 pounds of illegal fireworks from early June through the Fourth of July weekend.
Anaheim city spokesperson Mike Lyster said this was the first year Anaheim held homeowners responsible for any usage of illegal fireworks on their property.
“Nearly all citations, 40, were under Anaheim’s host liability ordinance, which allows us to issue citations for documented activity clearly tied to a home or other property, regardless of who may have [lit] them,” Lyster said in an email.
A handful of other OC cities have a social host ordinance, including Orange, Buena Park , Fullerton and Stanton.
This was also the first year Anaheim used drones as a tool for enforcement in a pilot program.
Esther Kwon Baek, another Anaheim spokesperson, said there were two drones used for enforcement operations from July 2 to about 1 a.m. on July 5. The two drones flew a total of 27 times over the holiday weekend.
According to Lyster, instead of having the drones randomly patrol areas, the drones responded to calls about fireworks to be in accordance with the police department’s policy. He said the drones were able to help the officers get onsite quickly.
“They were critical in helping direct where officers on the ground should prioritize and in collecting video evidence to support citations made on the ground,” Lyster wrote
Helicopters were also used to respond to calls to guide officers where to go and to document footage for citations, according to Lyster.
The city also received 302 calls related to fireworks.
In 12 OC cities, including Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, Garden Grove and Santa Ana, certain fireworks are legal. These types of fireworks have a seal on them, marking them as “safe and sane,” and do not leave the ground or explode.
However, illegal fireworks are still sold and often come with hefty fines if a person is caught selling them or letting them off.
In all other OC cities, fireworks are banned.
Santa Ana saw some of the highest citation rates, with 64 coming from patrols and 107 from drones. With each citation totalled at $1,000, the city brought in about $170,000 in fines.
According to an Instagram post by the department, about 1,300 pounds of illegal fireworks were also confiscated over the holiday weekend.
In Stanton, 16 citations were given out in response to illegal firework activity, totalling out to $125,000 – 11 citations at $10,000 each were given out, along with four $2,500 citations and one $5,000 fine.
According to a July 23 press release, illegal firework activity in the city was lower this year, with the Orange County Fire Authority reporting that firefighters didn’t have to respond to a fireworks incident – like structure or vegetation fires, or injuries.
“While these results are encouraging, illegal fireworks remain a serious threat to public safety and our community’s quality of life. They create risks of injury, fire and property damage and can significantly affect veterans, seniors, children, pets, and surrounding neighborhoods,” the news release reads.
This also marks the first year drones were used in Fullerton, using one drone.
There were a total of nine citations given out in Fullerton on July 4, and two other citations for selling illegal fireworks before the holiday, according to Kristy Wells, a spokeswoman for the Fullerton Police Department. She was unable to provide a total dollar amount in fines.
Wells said the drones were able to help catch some people igniting illegal fireworks, but there were also some difficulties in the process.
“It’s hard to pinpoint where they are because we’re driving around trying to catch up to these locations, and by the time we get there, they see the police car, and they don’t light them, so we don’t know who has them,” Wells said during a phone interview.
Wells added that coordinating an officer to respond to the fireworks sighting from the drone is like a ‘cat and mouse’ game due to availability of responding officers, with the city receiving 170 firework-related calls alone.
“Sometimes [the drone operator] gives out a location [and] he’s able to catch somebody, [but] we don’t have anybody available to go,” Wells said. “So by [the] time they are available to go, that person wasn’t there.”
Wells said officers have to observe the violation to issue a citation, and the officer operating the drone allows them to make that observation. The officer then gives out the location of where the violation took place and a description of the suspect to a responding officer.
“[The officer operating the drone will] keep that drone up to say, ‘Yeah, that’s the guy,’ [then] they’ll make that identification, but legally we have to observe the violation in order to issue somebody a citation,” Wells said.
Along with Fullerton, Orange this year also used drones for firework enforcement for the first time.
The drones were used to help locate 13 properties, leading to eight administrative citations that totaled out to $240,000, according to a press release.
This included fines for each discharge and possession of illegal fireworks and included fines given out to any host, spectator and property owner allowing or observing them.
One Orange property owner willingly surrendered 26 aerial mortars in an effort to stave off fines.
“This was a significant advantage compared to last year, when we did not utilize drones for these types of calls. At that time, officers largely had to rely on first-hand observations from the ground, which made it more difficult to determine exactly where fireworks were being launched, particularly when the activity was happening in multiple locations or officers could only hear the fireworks,” wrote Orange Police Spokesman Trevor Cullen.
Between June 20 and July 4, the Orange Police Department received 368 firework-related reports through various channels – including through a dedicated hotline, dispatch, email and the Orange 24/7 app.
This resulted in one arrest and the confiscation of numerous illegal fireworks, including 35 mortars and 12 roman candles.
Buena Park did not release any information on any firework enforcement results, including citations given or arrests made in the city on the Fourth of July to Voice of OC, with Sergeant Martin Tomsick adding that he has yet to receive permission to release the information.
On July 4, Garden Grove had given out 28 citations, each costing $1,000, for a total of $28,000, according to Police Lt. Royce Wimmer. This was a decrease in citations from the prior year, with 32 citations being issued. Also, about 300 pounds of fireworks were confiscated prior to the Fourth of July.
There were 40 people on duty specifically to address fireworks – one lieutenant, two sergeants, one committee service officer, one dispatcher and 34 field officers.
Garden Grove did not use drones as a tool for enforcement, according to Wimmer. Instead, they increased the number of field officers assigned firework detail by eight. Last year, there were 26 field officers on duty.
“We’re taking a more active approach, I mean to deploy 26 officers, and then go to 34 officers,” Wimmer said during a phone interview. “We’re not a big department, so a lot of people had to work.”
However, Garden Grove Police Department had to send over support to help the Newport Police with the beach takeover incident.
[Read: Newport Beach Looks to Take Down ‘Teen Takeovers’]
Additionally, Wimmer said there was no major structure or house fires this year.
“This is the first year that a palm tree hasn’t lit on fire,” Wimmer said. “It’s always chaos on the Fourth, but we lucked out this year.”
Westminster saw four citations – two for possession of illegal fireworks and two for attempted sale. The department confiscated about 50 pounds worth of fireworks.
According to the Investigations Bureau Commander Andy Stowers, the Westminster Police Department received 216 calls for complaints about illegal firework activity between June 28 and July 6 – 40 more than was received last year.
“There’s a reason why there’s fines out there,” Stowers said in a phone interview. “It’s not just because we don’t want people to have fun. It’s because people could get hurt. There’s news stories all over the county and all over LA county where people got hurt as a result of these fireworks.”
Lauren Contreras is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach her at laurencontreras615@gmail.com.
Michelle King is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood fellow. You can reach her at mcaitlin254@gmail.com.
Sara Leon is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach her at sleon7903@gmail.com.
