Sacramento may ban sale and use of all fireworks after complaints soared this July 4
This summer, fireworks complaints soared in the city of Sacramento. Next summer, the pyrotechnics could be banned.
The Sacramento City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee will Tuesday discuss whether to ban the sale and use of all fireworks citywide, including legal “Safe and Sane” fireworks, according to a city staff report.
The Sacramento Police Department received six times more fireworks complaints this June compared to June 2019. From June 1 through June 25, 2019, the department received 177 fireworks complaints citywide. For the same time period in June 2020, that number soared to 1,120.
Despite the surge in complaints, Sacramento police arrested fewer people on charges related to illegal fireworks, according to data obtained from a California Public Records Act request. From Jan. 1 through July 15, 2019, police arrested 19 people for sale, possession or use of illegal fireworks. For the same time period in 2020, police arrested 11 people on those charges.
In 2018 and 2019, a city task force was able to proactively find and shut down stands selling illegal fireworks, but that effort was reduced this year due to the coronavirus and protests, the staff report said.
Currently, the city allows legal “Safe and Sane” fireworks to be sold only from June 28 through July 5, the staff report said.
Councilman Eric Guerra, who requested the proposal be placed on the agenda, wants to consider the outright ban, partly because he frequently gets the request from residents.
“Many residents have called me and said if we banned all of them, we would be able to stop it,” said Guerra, a Law and Legislation Committee member. “People are so fed up about this issue.”
Guerra, who’s more focused on illegal fireworks, is skeptical of the outright ban, though. He’s heard some California cities that have banned all fireworks still have a problem, he said.
In addition, nonprofits that sell legal fireworks to fund services would suffer if the city banned all fireworks, Guerra said. Last year, more than 90 groups had registered with the city to sell legal fireworks – mostly churches, schools and nonprofits, according to the staff report.
One option might be to allow only nonprofits and neighborhood associations to sell legal fireworks, and only for events, Guerra said.
The committee Tuesday will also discuss whether to enact a surcharge on the sale of legal fireworks to help offset the cost of enforcement on illegal fireworks, the staff report said.
Guerra said he also worries air quality suffers from fireworks, which release carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen into the air.
“Given the poor air quality we had in last few weeks, should this be something we continue to do?” Guerra said, referring to the dangerous levels of particulate matter in Sacramento air from wildfires in the Vacaville area and across Northern California.
The committee will likely just discuss the idea Tuesday, Guerra said. A ban on the sale and use of all fireworks would require full City Council approval.
The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday and will be livestreamed on the city’s website.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 11:27 AM.
