By Angela Hill and Zuri Berry
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
OAKLAND, Calif. — A day after the Fourth of July, Oakland police and fire department officials reported fewer incidents and fires than last year because of illegal fireworks, but residents complained of more noise than ever throughout the city.
In addition, an investigation has been launched into a report of firefighters setting off illegal fireworks themselves Tuesday evening at their East Oakland station.
“I can’t confirm that such an incident took place,” said Oakland Deputy Fire Chief James Williams. “All I can confirm is that we received at least one complaint of that, and it is under investigation.”
Cindy Ortiz, a resident in the 5000 block of Bancroft Avenue who was not the source of the complaint, said she saw firefighters shooting off fireworks, but did not think it was a problem. “I know it’s illegal, but I thought it was OK,” she said.
Williams said officials do not know which firefighters were believed to be involved, and that any discipline for such an incident would be handled on an individual basis.
In other parts of the city, illegal fireworks were set off until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, illuminating the sky and rattling residents’ nerves. Vivian Reed, who lives on Warner Avenue near 98th Avenue in East Oakland, had a rough holiday as groups of young people set off fireworks in her neighborhood, aiming them at her house, she said.
“They were exploding these bombs until about 11:30 at night,” she said. “I understand it’s Fourth of July and people have fireworks, but these were not just sparklers and little noise makers. These were dangerous. The first one was right when I had gotten home and they popped one up and it landed and blew up on my car. It left some marks, but it could have been on my house and started a fire. There’s debris all over my yard and on my house.”
Reed called the police twice and patrol cars rolled by, but not when the fireworks were being set off, she said. She made a formal police report Wednesday morning.
Despite such reports, officials say there were fewer fireworks-related problems than previous years because of stepped-up enforcement. Police handed out 120 citations during the evening -- which could carry fines up to $1,000 each -- to people setting off fireworks. And one arrest was made for the sale of commercial-grade fireworks in the 700 block of 33rd Street in West Oakland, said Oakland police Capt. Dave Kozicki.
“It was a pretty significant seizure,” he said. “We got information about a guy selling a truckload of illegal fireworks on the street. This was some pretty major stuff.”
-- most were marked for professional use only, and the labels warned that they could lead to serious injury.”
Kozicki said these kinds of devices are not just for Fourth of July anymore.
“We’re seeing these professional-grade fireworks at Raiders games and throughout the year,” he said. “People may be getting them from out of state, or off the Internet. Knock on wood, we so far haven’t had any major injuries, but it’s a serious hazard waiting to happen.”
He said post-event disturbances at the Jack London Square public fireworks display dropped dramatically from last year, when officers dealt with numerous cases of vandalism and looting.
“We put out quite a few police officers to address these problems this year,” he said. The police department’s campaign against fireworks started last week with a public demonstration of illegal fireworks. The city of Oakland has deemed all fireworks to be illegal.
There were four fires in Oakland Tuesday, but none of them were fireworks-related, said fire Capt. Melinda Drayton.