CAL Fire’s fire marshals and other agencies respond to increase in illegal fireworks in the Coachella Valley

Reports of illegal fireworks have had a tremendous increase in the Coachella Valley this year compared to last year. 

News Channel 3’s Caitlin Thropay goes over some of the shocking statistics.

“A big boom boom like an explosion or gunshot,” Steven Formeloz said.

We spoke with Formeloz, a Cathedral City resident on May 31. He described hearing the sound of illegal fireworks overnight in his neighborhood.

Since then, reports have continued to skyrocket.

According to Cathedral City police, they’ve received 350 reports of illegal fireworks from June 1 to June 23. Compare that to the same time last year, when they only received 26 calls.

“Normally, we would see an increase for Fourth of July, this is awfully soon,” Captain Misty Reynolds with Riverside County Sheriff's Department told News Channel 3.

Captain Reynolds breaks down the numbers in Coachella.

“For the city of Coachella, last year, June of 2019 we had a total of 12 calls for service related to fireworks and this year thus far for June 2020 I’m at 163 calls for service,” Reynolds said.

According to Captain Reynolds, the city of La Quinta has reported 36 calls this June compared to no calls in June of 2019.

She also told News Channel 3, they’ve increased patrols.

“We also have special enforcement teams and all of the special enforcement teams assigned to my various jurisdictions are actually changing their hours working later in the evening when we’re getting these calls for fireworks,” she said.

The city of Indio also seeing more illegal fireworks this year.

“It’s affecting the quality of life for our community where residents don’t feel good about it and its affecting their animals,” Ben Guitron, public information officer for the Indio Police Department said.

CAL Fire’s fire marshals are working with local law enforcement to address this issue.

“There's activity throughout the entire valley not any specific area,” Captain Fernando Herrera, public information officer for CAL Fire Riverside said.

Some cities allow safe and sane fireworks but if you’re in a city that doesn’t, the consequences are significant.

“Anyone that buys safe and sane fireworks and uses them outside those jurisdictions can be fined up to $5,000 and can also face prison time,” Captain Herrera said.

Illegal fireworks are not allowed anywhere.

“Continue to call us and try to assist us with the actual origin of where you believe these fireworks are being set off from and the fact that they are aerial fireworks that’s where our difficulty comes in and the ability to locate the origin of them," George Crum, chief of police for the Cathedral City Police Department said on the phone.

Here are some helpful links:

• Fourth of July fireworks
• Violation code sheet
• If it doesn’t have the “Safe and Sane Registered Seal,” then it's against the law and considered a consumer/dangerous firework. To see what the seal looks like click here.
• Information regarding firework sales on the internet: Here and here
• Some generalized instructions on handling fireworks: Here, here and here.