Riverside County officials are urging residents to celebrate safely this Fourth of July holiday weekend by attending public firework displays and being safe around water.
“It’s really important that people realize that those fireworks cause fires, not only wildland fires, but structure fires as well,” Fire Chief Bill Weiser said earlier this week in an interview with The Riverside Record. “It’s important that people don’t use fireworks.”
All fireworks, including “safe and sane” fireworks, are illegal in unincorporated Riverside County as well as the vast majority of incorporated cities. The cities of Blythe, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs and Indio allow the use of “safe and sane” fireworks, which are non-explosive and labeled with an official seal from the State Fire Marshal.
All other fireworks, including sky rockets, bottle rockets, roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers and others that explode, go into the air or move on the ground in an uncontrollable manner are illegal across the state, according to guidance published by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
The holiday comes on the heels of a number of wildfires in the county, including the 756-acre Juniper Fire near Perris, the 109-acre Mindy fire in Aguanga and the 2,414-acre Wolf Fire near Banning. Both the Juniper and Mindy fires were more than 90% contained as of Thursday afternoon, though containment for the Wolf fire remained below 60%. Weiser said Tuesday that it was his hope to start reducing the evacuation zones as containment increased.
“I’m glad to say, within all those fires, we don’t have any structures that were destroyed,” he said. “It sounds like in the Juniper fire there may be one with a slight damage, but we’ve done well and the communities are helping us, listening, doing all those things and evacuating when they need to.”
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Beyond the risk of fire, Weiser noted that the use of illegal fireworks can also negatively impact pets, veterans and other sensitive populations. Those caught selling, transporting or using illegal fireworks face steep fines across the county.
Instead, Weiser recommended people attend public events and fireworks shows being put on across the county over the next few days, a list of which can be found here.
Those wishing to report illegal fireworks in Riverside County Sheriff’s Office jurisdictions can call 800-950-2444, fill out the form online or download the department’s app on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
Those who live in the incorporated cities of Banning, Beaumont, Blythe, Cathedral City, Corona, Desert Hot Springs, Hemet, Indio, Menifee, Murrieta, Palm Springs, or Riverside, should call their local police departments to report fireworks.
In addition to fireworks, Weiser urged residents to stay alert when children are in or around water to prevent drownings.
“Let’s stop the drownings and be there for our children when they’re in the pools,” he said. “Remember that drowning is a silent thing, so keep an adult watching those kids.”
Preventive actions include enrolling children in swim lessons with a certified instructor, assigning a “water watcher” and never allowing people to swim alone, avoid consuming alcohol or medications that can influence judgment or impair balance and the ability to swim, getting trained in CPR, basic first aid and rescue methods and wearing life jackets when on or near water sources.
More information can be found here on the Riverside University Health System website.
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