According to authorities, illegal pyrotechnics were a significant cause of over 20 fires that broke out in the Bay Area on July 4.
Among the eight fires that the Contra Costa Fire Protection District responded to on Thursday night was an inferno located at Lotus Court, which forced the evacuation of around six residences as the flames ascended the hillsides.
According to ConFire, fireworks set fire to half an acre of property in Antioch around 9 p.m.
Firefighters from ConFire responded to a residential blaze at Casitas Court at 10 o’clock that night; the fire was extinguished before it could spread; fireworks were deemed a contributing factor.
ConFire also reported that a multi-acre fire, dry grass ablaze, in Martinez was probably started by pyrotechnics almost 20 miles away.
It is illegal to own or possess fireworks in Contra Costa County. In an online video, a cop is shown stomping on a few small fires.
In the seventeen hours that spanned Thursday at 10 a.m. and Friday at 3 a.m., ConFire dispatchers received more than 11,000 calls.
They responded to more than 310 calls.
Unauthorized fireworks may have been the source of a blaze on Kimball Island.
At about 10 o’clock on July 4th, firefighters in Santa Rosa responded to a house fire on Cavendish Avenue, which they suspect was started by fireworks.
According to the Fire Department in Santa Rosa, the blaze started in the nearby dry bushes and quickly spread to the residence. According to firemen, the lone resident managed to flee the house.
A firefighter from Santa Rosa reported over a dozen complaints concerning the unlawful use of pyrotechnics.
Shooting flames into the sky to have them randomly fall, without a care as to where they end up, is reckless and unconscionable and actionable if you are the culprit who burns down public or private property.
