Two fires, lots of fireworks calls for Lodi fire and police

Although the San Joaquin County Sheriff ’s Office arrested a Stockton man on suspicion of possessing approximately 14,000 pounds of illegal fireworks for sale, Lodi’s first responders had a relatively calm Fourth of July.

The Lodi Fire Department responded to two fires Wednesday night, according to Battalion Chief Ronald Penix, beginning with a dumpster fire at a motel on the 900 block of South Cherokee Lane at approximately 10:15 p.m.

The fire burned the exterior stucco wall, Penix said, melting through a conduit along the wall and the wire inside and shutting down the power.

“There was some smoke in the unit, and damage to the back and sides. They’re going to need electrical repairs,” Penix said. “It did shut down the business, but I don’t know how many people were displaced.”

The second fire was reported at approximately midnight, Penix said, and started on or near a couch in the side yard of a residence on the 300 block of East Elm Street.

Although the fire broke a window and damaged some curtains, another couch and the attic, Penix said the exterior of the residence sustained the most damage.

Although the Lodi Police Department responded to nearly 100 calls, Sgt. Ryan Holz said Wednesday evening was relatively uneventful for his fellow officers.

“Between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. we received 99 calls, a lot of them for illegal fireworks,” Holz said. “Besides that, nothing major.”

Jennifer Winn, recreation manager for the City of Lodi Parks and Recreation Department, said the celebration at Lodi Lake on Wednesday evening did not require a large clean-up effort.

“You had the usual trash here and there from the festivities, but it was a pretty normal clean-up,” Winn said.

In other news, 40-year-old Stephen Clark of Stockton was on Tuesday arraigned on 50 counts related to the approximately 14,000 pounds of illegal fireworks including aerial mortars and roman candles seized in late June and will be further arraigned on July 10, according to a post on the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office’s Facebook page.

After the fireworks were seized on June 28 when a task force consisting of officers from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office and Manteca and Stockton police departments on the 2400 block of Country Club Boulevard in Stockton, Clark was arrested on suspicion of possessing destructive devices, possessing destructive devices near a school, advertising illegal fireworks for sale and possessing more than illegal fireworks for sale.