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Victorville City issued 180 illegal firework citations and confiscated over 500 pounds

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Illegal fireworks as seen from a Victorville drive-thru on the 4th of July.
Illegal fireworks as seen from a Victorville drive-thru on the 4th of July.

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (VVNG.com) — The City of Victorville issued 180 citations and confiscated 532 pounds of fireworks during the 4th of July illegal firework enforcement operation. City spokeswoman Sue Jones said 110 of those citations were issued on the 4th of July, compared to 80 citations issued last year.

Perhaps it was the COVID-19 “Stay at Home Orders” boredom or maybe the last-minute cancellation of most city-operated fireworks displays. Regardless of the reason, July 2020 certainly saw a huge increase in the use of illegal fireworks in communities everywhere.

The spokeswoman told VVNG they share many of the same frustrations residents have about the negative impacts fireworks have on the quality of life in Victorville as well as the safety hazards such as risk of fire and bodily injury.  

Victorville City Fire responded to 57 fires that were caused by illegal fireworks including two structure fires.

“Each year, we work to improve our effort by incorporating the lessons learned from the previous year,” stated Jones. Enforcement of illegal fireworks use can be very difficult and they’ve worked to refine our process,” she stated.

Jones said new fines were imposed this year and based on the concerns and feedback received from Victorville residents last year, City Council increased the fine for illegal fireworks to $1,000 for the first violation, $2,000 for the second violation, and $3,000 for the third.

Jones attributed the increase in citations to members from the community. ‘They were able to use video and pictures to catch violators. The online reports residents submitted via our online reporting tool were also very helpful,” stated Jones.

“We will continue to work to improve our enforcement efforts for the safety of our community and the quality of life in Victorville, but this problem will continue as long as our residents are able to purchase fireworks so readily,” stated Jones.

Victorville’s enforcement efforts involved employees from Code Enforcement, Victorville Fire, Victorville Police, and Animal Care & Control assisted with communication and messaging from our Public Information staff.

Below is the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Fireworks Call History From 7/1 – 7/5/2020:

STATION: 7/1/207/2/207/3/207/4/207/5/20CALLS:
HESPERIA413910824959496
VICTORVILLE 31459221978465
APPLE VALLEY11224813936256
ADELANTO 71214251876
VICTOR VALLEY 77267318131
BARSTOW 1089211967
TOTAL:1071332977262281491

Below is the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Fireworks Call History From 7/1 – 7/5/2019:

STATION: 7/1/197/2/197/3/197/4/197/5/19CALLS:
HESPERIA210238530150
VICTORVILLE 7104319639295
APPLE VALLEY551466999
ADELANTO 458261457
VICTOR VALLEY 14559877
BARSTOW 10112115
TOTAL:203494444100693

VVNG was unable to verify the number of citations issued by the City of Hesperia, the Town of Apple Valley, and Adelanto.

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