Kardashian fireworks spark ‘action plan’
Permitted spectacle in Marina del Rey elicits orders for county fire chief to prevent similar incidents.
It’s not a perfume, clothing line or new reality TV show, but the Kardashians have now inspired a “corrective action plan.”
Angry over a fireworks show that Khloe Kardashian threw in Marina del Rey last month for her NBA star boyfriend, L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors has ordered its fire chief to find a way to prevent something similar from happening again.
Fire Chief Daryl Osby has a one-month deadline to report back with “a corrective action plan to ensure that an event, like the private, permitted fireworks show in Marina del Rey that occurred very late on a weeknight in an area impacting many residents, is not repeated.”
On Aug. 26, about midnight, the sky above Marina del Rey lit up with an eightminute fireworks show as part of a boat party thrown by Khloe Kardashian for Houston Rockets guard James Harden.
Many residents complained that the show scared their pants off, figuratively, woke their children and shook up their dogs. One woman, Playa del Rey resident Linda Feldman, told the Los Angeles Times that she thought her dog was going into “cardiac arrest.”
In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the board approved Supervisor Don Knabe’s motion, entrusting Osby to create a plan to ensure that similar incidents don’t occur.
“It is outrageous that a show of this nature was allowed to occur very late on a weeknight in an area impacting so many residents,” Knabe’s motion read.
The fireworks could be seen as far away as Venice and heard in Redondo Beach.
The display caused chaos in many households, and residents have since demanded answers and accountability for the non-holiday show, which although legal, many considered rude.
E!Online reported that the bash was a celebration of Harden’s 26th birthday. Kardashian, best known for her family’s long-running reality TV show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” is reportedly dating the hirsute Harden.
Residents say they weren’t notified about the fireworks show.
The Coast Guard said that because the event occurred in open water about a mile from the marina, a permit was not required. The show also passed a safety checklist, officials said.
Many of the residents who called to complain were concerned that the noise was coming from weapons fire, said L.A. County sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.
Before Tuesday’s vote, the L.A. County Fire Department was already looking into a permit corrective action plan. In a statement, the department said it would ensure that procedures for “future outdoor fireworks displays consider time of day and appropriate community outreach.”