Pasadena authorities plan illegal fireworks crackdown

Police warn of Illegal fireworks ahead of July 4

Are you hearing fireworks in the middle of the night? As we creep closer to July 4th-- no doubt you've heard the illegal fireworks keeping people up all hours of the night.

PASADENA, Calif. - If you're hearing fireworks in the middle of the night you're not alone!

As we creep closer to July 4th there are people out there using illegal fireworks and they keep many Southern Californians up all hours of the night.

If you were thinking about going to the Rose Bowl for July 4th think again. That's been canceled due to the pandemic. And, that's got local officials worried about a possible increase in illegal fireworks use. In fact, from West LA to Inglewood, Venice and Burbank people are complaining.

In Pasadena, officials say fireworks complaints are up some 400%… Why? Local residents like Renee Jones says hearing " loud booms and small pops" at night have been anxiety-provoking.

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Christina Castillo says, "We keep hearing git gunshot sounding noises at night because it's kinda scary - we’re up near the mountains… near the fire zone and it kinda scary to know things are getting a little out of control."

Meanwhile, Pasadena Police Chief John Perez says, "We’re not hearing small fireworks being used. We’re hearing very loud explosions of M80’s … M100s… I’m not sure what exactly is happening.”

Chief Perez says what’s going on is illegal and worrisome. Friday night there was a fire in San Bernardino triggered by fireworks. It’s what the Fire Chief in Pasadena is worried about and so on Tuesday look for some aggressive actions here from Pasadena Fire and Police.

Fire Chief Bryan Frieders says, “You’re going to see a high visibility presence of the fire department throughout the city. Beginning tomorrow we’re going to be having our patrols and fire engines driving the streets looking for illegal fireworks; making sure there are no potential fire hazards that exist.

Every single day our staff drives our hillside homes and the woodland area that we’re concerned about and you’re going to see a lot more visibility from the fire department in the upcoming days leading up to the 4th of July."

Meanwhile, Chief Perez says, “This weekend alone we had almost a couple of hundred calls for service on fireworks and we were only able to issue citations based on our local ordinance to two locations.”

His warning?

Perez says, "Don’t do it ...Don’t do it … it’s not worth it.”

And, both of those chiefs say the penalty if caught could be as much as a year in jail and/or $1000 fine.