Officials Crack Down on Illegal Fireworks

Monday, July 03, 2006

July 3, 2006 -- With more investigators, more citations, and a lot more money, Fresno's crackdown on illegal fireworks appears to be paying off.

Last year, the city of Fresno received hundreds of reports of illegal fireworks, but issued only four citations.

This year, the city has already issued four citations a full day before the Fourth of July.

If you are caught with fireworks that explode or leave the ground, the fine this year is $1,000. On Monday evening, four people had already been cited. Tuesday, officers will be out in full force, on the ground and in the sky, looking for people firing off illegal fireworks.

Fresno's fire marshall Don McAlpine says last year, firefighters were overwhelmed and understaffed. "Last year, it was just horrendous," he said.

There were too many illegal fireworks and only four investigators handing out citations. The citations also took 20 minutes to fill out. Three hundred people and even Fresno city councilmembers complained about the lack of enforcement.

This year, 10 teams will be on the ground and another in the sky. And writing those tickets will take as long as setting up and lighting up a rocket.

"This year, we have it down, I'm estimating...what, maybe three or four minutes," said McAlpine.

And the fines for having illegal fireworks have gone from $100 to $1,000.

"We want to make life difficult for those people that have illegal fireworks," said Rick Moore of the CDF.

Moore says his zero tolerance policy didn't work well either last year. "We need to impact people to the point so they understand that it's not legal, it's not acceptable. We don't want fires, we don't want destruction," he said.

This time, he'll have six of his own teams handing out expensive fines, and if the pyrotechnics cause a fire, the person responsible will also have to pay the costs of putting the fire out, which could cost thousands of dollars.

"As soon as I start feeling sympathy for someone getting a $1,000 fine, I think of those that have lost so much more, and it could have been prevented," said Moore.

McAlpine doesn't think the extra enforcement and higher fine will make much of a difference this year, but once more people are caught and slapped with a $1,000 citation, word of mouth will spread quickly and the impact will be seen next year.

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