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The Fourth of July may be over, but the work continues for the Clovis and Fresno Fire Departments as they compile all the firework-related fires and crimes committed during the holiday weekend.
Clovis Fire Chief Micheal Despain said he expected Sunday night to be just as busy because people may continue the Fourth of July celebration through the whole weekend. But he said Saturday was undoubtedly jam packed with battling fires and cracking down on people using illegal fireworks. Despain said they fought four fires in the city, including two caused by illegal fireworks.
"One in particular was a roof that had shake shingle roofs so those were the ones that are really susceptible to, you know, say aerial fireworks landing on top of them, and that’s what happened," said Despain.
The Chief said the other fire caused by illegal fireworks was a small grass fire in a residential backyard. These two fires he said, is exactly why their focus was catching those using the illegal fireworks.
Despain said, "We had a little different method of enforcement this year."
He said they, alongside the Clovis Police Department, had many of their firefighters and officers dressed in normal clothing and go undercover to identify people using and in possession of illegal fireworks.
"So in most cases, they didn’t even know who we were. Many of the people that have the tickets won’t even know. They don’t even know they have tickets. They’ll get them on Monday and Tuesday when the mail goes out," continued Despain.
Despain reports at least twenty citations were written and the fine is $ 1,000 dollars.
Fresno Fire also had their hands full during the holiday, battling four fires, including two started by fireworks. They said 33-percent of all their calls were fire-related calls, 29-percent were medical calls, and 25-percent were service calls. Fresno Fire said there was a huge increase in grass fires, debris fires, trash fires, and structure fires as the Fourth of July night went on.
On Monday morning, Clovis Fire, Fresno Fire, and Fresno County Cal Fire will hold a joint press conference to further go over what each agency dealt with this weekend.
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