Illegal Fireworks Use and Fires Down for 2015

For the first time in several years no injuries related to firework use were reported over the weekend and more than a dozen pounds of illegal fireworks were confiscated but people will begin getting fines this week.

The Clovis and Fresno Fire Departments along with Fresno County Cal Fire held a press conference to release their firework task force statistics and they were happy to announce residents were a lot more responsible this year. They also said they took a different approach on illegal fireworks.

It was a busy weekend for firefighters in Fresno County, they responded to a lot more fire related calls than normal for the day.

"We can attribute approximately ten of those calls related to firework incidents because of the amount of fireworks we had in the area at the time," said Pete Martinez with Fresno Fire.

Cracking down on people using illegal fireworks was a priority but they say it wasn’t as bad as they expected.

"We saw a significant decrease in the amount of illegal activity in the county and the rural areas, i think people are understanding how dry and vulnerable the parcels are around them," said Ryan Michaels with Cal Fire.

Among the Clovis and Fresno fire departments along with Cal Fire only one misdemeanor citation was given and 21 pounds of illegal fireworks were confiscated. 

"We really appreciate people hearing that message, understanding how dangerous things could be and taking the appropriate actions, choosing to avoid participating in illegal firework activities," Michaels said.

Clovis Fire Chief Michael Despain said they had a different enforcement strategy this year, sending undercover firefighters and officers to keep track of those using illegal fireworks.

"They identified property owners and locations, we entered it into a computer system and we’ll come back this week and start issuing those citations so a number of people will be getting their citations with $ 1,000 fine in the mail this week," Michael Despain said.

Hoping those fines will keep people from using illegal fireworks in the future but say statistics show people were more aware of the danger of illegal and improperly used fireworks.

"That means people were watching closely on how they were using them and there may have been a lot more attention into the handling of safe and sane fireworks this year," City Fire Marshall Tim Henry said.