350 pounds of unused fireworks disposed

>> Falling on a Tuesday, the July Fourth holiday offered some revelers an extended celebration weekend and a lengthened response period for Santa Cruz County police and fire agencies.

In the unincorporated areas, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office seized approximately 350 pounds of unused fireworks between Saturday and Tuesday, according to agency spokesperson Ashley Keehn. The agency's bomb team disposed of those fireworks, she said.

Sheriff's deputies issued just one $1,000 illegal fireworks citation while making four public intoxication arrests and having one DUI case turned over to the California Highway Patrol, Keehn said. According to Israel Murillo of the CHP Santa Cruz Area Office, his agency made 23 DUI arrests between Friday and Tuesday, in addition to responding to a few nonfatal DUI-related crashes.

“In most of the instances, if people would see us coming and would flee the area,” Keehn said of the low number of fireworks-related penalties.

Keehn said the amount of fireworks seized was a larger amount than in recent years. Patrolling deputies had a new strategy this year, which may have contributed to increased seizures, Keehn said.

“We did have deputies posted at every major beach, which aided in responding to calls quicker,” Keehn said. “In years past, we have had beach patrols, but this year we did have deputies posted at specific beaches, rather than roving. Whether that aided in how many fireworks were received is hard to tell.”

Beyond arrests, the Sheriff's Office also responded to three small fires believed to have been ignited by fireworks Tuesday night, Keehn said. At 6 p.m. on Via Pacifica in Aptos, there were several small brush fires started. At 10:30 p.m. on Pleasure Point Drive, a tarp on an under-construction home caught fire. Deputies were able to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher and no other damage was caused, Keehn said. Then, at 11 p.m. on Pioneer Road, a brush fire was extinguished by Cal Fire responders.

“Any of these fires could have caused significant damage, and we're lucky that they didn't,” Keehn said. “No injuries (were) reported in any of them.”

Santa Cruz Fire Department Chief Rob Oatey said that while city beaches were “well attended” for the holiday, his department responded to no fireworks-related fires or other major holiday-related calls for service.