Callers on 4th’s illegal fireworks out of luck

Reports to hotline were routed to 311, which closed for the holiday

The day before the 4th of July, the mayor and Albuquerque Fire Rescue held a news conference, in part to urge citizens to report illegal fireworks to the city.

They said citizens could call 244-FIRE to make such a report.

However, as it turns out, that hotline routed calls to 311, which was closed for the holiday.

“AFR was not aware that 311 would not be operational on the night of July 4th and, therefore, the citizens that only had the option of using a phone number to report illegal fireworks had no viable alternative,” Chief Paul Dow wrote in a letter to city officials. “The miscommunication falls on AFR, and we will communicate with other city departments so this does not happen again.”

Lt. Tom Ruiz, an AFR spokesman, said 311 had been staffed over the holiday the year before.

Although those wishing to report illegal fireworks could not call a phone hotline, they could make reports through the website ABQ311.com or the One ABQ app.

According to the letter from Chief Dow, this year, 1,630 fireworks were reported through the website and the app. The year before 1,656 fireworks were reported through the app and the website, but that number includes reports from July 1 through July 5.

The date range for this year’s reports is unclear.

Of the more than 1,600 reports, Fireworks Enforcement Units — teams made up of an inspector with the Fire Marshal’s Office and an officer from the Albuquerque Police Department — responded to 74. They issued one citation.

Ruiz said it’s impossible for the units to respond to every one of the reports so, instead, the department looked at heat maps of areas where there is the most illegal firework activity and went there.

“It’s really difficult for us to go out when illegal fireworks are reported and to actually see someone using them when we get out there,” he said. “The way the system is set up, we see you call for illegal fireworks and maybe there are five, 10, 20 other reports in the same area. We’re not going because one was reported, but because many were reported in same area.”