San Bruno Police Step Up Crackdown on Illegal Fireworks

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- All across the Bay Area there are communities that promise a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal fireworks. In San Bruno, it seems, they really mean it.

"Everyone in the entire department is required to work the Fourth of July in San Bruno," says Lieutenant Ryan Johansen of the San Bruno police department.

The entire staff is working Thursday and, if it's anything like last year, they will be busy.

The department made 25 arrests and seized 400 pounds of illegal fireworks on July 4, 2018. Three hundred pounds of that came from just one vehicle.

The issue of fireworks -- even the legal ones -- is something this community has wrestled with over the years.

"There's a large contingency that really advocates every year to keep fireworks legal in San Bruno as a matter of tradition and practice," said Lt. Johansen. "And then there's the other group that says this is a huge nuisance, a problem for pets, a problem for safety and that they want to stop. So somewhere in between is to continue to allow them and try to enforce the illegal stuff as best we can."

Residents can buy legal fireworks from the San Bruno Police Officers Association but police also have a hotline for reporting illegal fireworks and even use unmarked surveillance vehicles to catch violators.

"We will put out surveillance teams whose sole purpose is to observe the fireworks being used because they're a little bit tougher to detect," Johansen said. "And they'll send in marked units in uniforms to actually issue citations."

So, with all of the arrests and citations handed out last year, do police think people will be any more inclined to celebrate by the rules this year?

"You know, I would love to say 'yes,'" Johansen laughed. "Unfortunately, I think it's just the people who received the thousand-dollar citations last year that are probably more likely to be safe this year and those who didn't get caught will wait until they do."