Hundreds of fireworks citations handed out during 4th of July

Central Coast law enforcement agencies responded to hundreds of calls during the 4th of July holiday.

In Salinas, police officers, fire prevention officers and code enforcement officers went undercover into neighborhoods to see if people were setting off illegal fireworks.

Salinas council member Kimbley Craig went out with police for the eighth year in a row.

“Many people lit off fireworks both in their front yard and their backyard, in front of police officers without knowing it,” Craig said.

Some people were busted red-handed and given citations. It can cost someone $1,250 if they’re busted using illegal fireworks, another $1,000 for noise ordinance violations.

“75 administrative citations where we witnessed folks setting off illegal fireworks,” said Salinas Battalion Chief and Fire Marshal Sam Klemek.

Yet, fire officials are still combing through the more than 1,200 reports sent to salinasfireworks.com, a number they say is triple the usual. They also need to go investigate the four or five dozen reports sent to the Salinas Connect App and the voicemails and text messages sent in from the community.

“We’re looking at probably about 50-100 citations that way as well,” Klemek said.

The citations won’t be physically handed out to people who violated the ordinances, rather they will be sent in the mail.

Salinas officials also confiscated about 100 pounds of illegal fireworks off the streets. That included a handful of bottle rockets, a firework which they say can cause a lot of damages.

Speaking of fires, between Tuesday and Wednesday, firefighters responded to 12 incidents – five vegetation fires, five outdoor fires and two structure fires. One of those structure fires involved a home in East Salinas.

“We had one fire that started as a fallout from an aerial firework, fell into some trash and some disposed fireworks that were left up against a fence. That started a fire that broke out some bedroom windows and caught the house on fire,” Klemek said.

We checked in with other Central Coast communities to find out about their fireworks enforcement operations.

Hollister Police said 34 citations were written to people busted for various illegal fireworks violations. Police received 54 calls regarding fireworks on Wednesday, but an astonishing 632 reports on its FOREalert app. Between July 3-4, there were seven fireworks related fires.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office received 282 calls for service during the holiday, with 130 of them being fireworks related. 15 citations were handed out for fireworks violations.

Santa Cruz Police reported 435 calls for service, with 74 being fireworks related. 15 triple-fine citations were written, some of those were for fireworks.

Watsonville Police said it received 770 calls for service, including 118 calls related to fireworks. 11 citations were written, but officers confiscated 87 pounds of illegal fireworks.

Gilroy Police said officers responded to 410 calls for service, with 176 being fireworks related. 438 reports of illegal fireworks were made through the FOREalert app. 60 citations were written, a substantial increase from the 11 written last year.

Seaside Police, with the help of firefighters, used drones to catch illegal fireworks activities. Chief Abdul Pridgen was going to present preliminary information to the city council on Thursday.

Fire officials credit the community for helping to report illegal fireworks activity.