Lodi Police busy for Fourth of July
Illegal firework explodes inside car injuring one man
The Fourth of July proved to be a very busy and eventful day for local law enforcement.
According to Lodi Police Lt. Sierra Brucia, in a five-hour period from about 7 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday, Lodi Police had 157 calls for service and of those, 93 were fireworks related.
“We were quite busy and at one point I think we had 35 calls pending,” he said.
Brucia said he had yet to pull the stats from 2016 for a comparison, but just from talking to the officers and supervisors that were on duty it seemed busier than last year.
Only one injury was reported during the holiday, Brucia said. Officers responded to an explosion on Kettleman Lane where they located a vehicle with extensive damage. A 55year old male occupant was taken to the hospital for severe injuries to his hands after fireworks had exploded in them. Brucia confirmed that the fireworks were illegal.
“I know it was an illegal firework,” he said. “I don’t know the exact kind that it was. I think it was some type of mortar type firework that was supposed to shoot up in the air but I don’t know the specifics of it.”
Despite it being busy on Tuesday, in the days leading up to the holiday, there were less calls for fireworks than usual, Brucia said
“We usually have quite a few in the days leading up to it,” he said
Brucia anticipates more fireworks activity through the remainder of the week.
“Historically there’s always been some residual fireworks going on over the next couple of days and we still have some fireworks patrols out,” he said. “I don’t know how busy it will be — we’re going to have to wait and see.”
Lodi Fire Division Chief Gene Stoddart said it wasn’t a particularly busy holiday for the fire department, but added that firefighters did respond to a call in which fireworks that were not disposed of properly caused a garbage can to catch fire.
“They put them in a garbage can after they shot them off,” Stoddart said. “They weren’t properly cooled or wet down, and it started the garbage can on fire.”
Other than that incident, firefighters responded to two grass fires in which the cause was undetermined.
Compared to last year, Stoddart said he didn’t see any significant changes in activity during this year’s holiday. He anticipates that the new changes to the city’s fireworks ordinance will prove more effective in the future.
According to Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Jeff Hood, on Monday and Tuesday two parks experienced vandalism and damage.
On Tuesday the meeting room glass window at Kofu Park was smashed in and broken bottles along with fireworks debris were left scattered in the skate park. Hood said fireworks are prohibited in the park and the skate park is set to open back up today.
On Monday, a urinal was pulled from the wall of the bathroom facility at Legion Park and one of the privacy partition walls was pulled down.
“It’s disheartening,” Hood said. “We had a lot of problems with illegal activities and vandalism in the last several months and we’re going to have to find a way to stop the financial hemorrhaging.”
The repairs at the two parks will cost the city several thousand dollars, Hood said.
He encourages anyone with information on who is responsible for the vandalism to call the Lodi Police Department.