9 grass fires over holiday weekend; 47 total citations issued
Thirty-one citations were issued in the city of Porterville for the illegal use of fireworks on Independence Day, Sunday, July 4.
That’s the number reported by Porterville Fire Department Fire Marshal Clayton Dignam. There number of citations issued was about the same as last year even with the new ordinance that was put into place that placed stricter restrictions on the use of fireworks and also raised the fines for the use of illegal fireworks.
Last year, 29 citations were issued of the Fourth of July weekend. But Dignam reported a total of 47 citations were issued this year after the new ordinance went into effect on June 4.
The number of fires reported of the three-day weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this year were also similar to last year. Dignam reported there were nine grass fires and two dumpster fires reported over the three-day weekend this year as compared to eight grass fires, three tree fires and three dumpster fires last year.
The cause of the Main Fire that burned about 400 acres in the Lewis Hill area on Saturday night is still under investigation.
“We’re not a 100 percent sure,” said Dignam about what caused the fire. “I don’t want to put it on fireworks. I can’t say that definitively.
Dignam said the new ordinance isn’t designed to be punitive. “It’s designed to be a deterrent,” he said. “It’s out there to discourage activity.”
Even before the Independence Day weekend on June 29, Porterville Public safety reported nearly 16,000 individ
ual fireworks that were illegal were confiscated in Porterville in June. It was reported 500 boxes of packages containing nearly 16,000 individual fireworks that were illegal weighing more than 1,200 pounds were confiscated.
Dignam said he will have a complete report with all the figures compiled when it comes to the enforcement concerning fireworks at the Porterville City Council’s meeting on July 20.
Porterville Fire Chief Dave Lapere expressed his appreciation for the the Porterville Police Department’s help in enforce the fireworks ordinance at this past Tuesday’s council meeting. “It was a huge help this year,” he said. “We were very happy. They just did an outstanding job.”
As part of the Porterville Police Department’s enforcement detail concerning fireworks, two members of the detail are certified Unmanned Aerial Vehicle pilots, allowing the department to deploy its drones if needed.
But outgoing Porterville Police Chief Eric Kroutil, who’s retiring, reported at Tuesday’s meeting circumstances didn’t really lead to having the drones be used. “Our drones never had a chance to go up,” he said.