Drones Used by California Cities to Patrol for Illegal Fireworks and Issue Fines

A number of California cities, including Sacramento, have begun using drones to locate people shooting off illegal fireworks. From Wednesday to Saturday night, the Sacramento Fire Department’s special fireworks task force patrolled the streets with unmarked cars and drones, focusing on neighborhoods where they’ve had prior complaints. Task force officers and the drones took photos of the illegal activity, and within 30 days the property owner where the fireworks were used could receive a fine in the mail.

If the property is being rented, the fine will still go to the property owner, Sacramento officials said. “Homeowners around Sacramento might be issuing eviction notices,” Sacramento Fire Department Captain Justin Sylvia told Fox40.

This year, Sacramento upped the fine to $1,000 for the first firework, $2,500 for the second and $5,000 per firework after that. If you lit a firework on city property, such as a park or a school, the fine goes up to $10,000 each. There’s no limit to how many fines you can be issued.

“If we see multiple fireworks being used at a single property, we can stack the violations based upon how many fireworks they’re using,” SFD Fire Marshal Jason Lee told KCRA. “So, it could be thousands of dollars per location.”

It’s no idle threat. Last summer, Elk Grove officials announced they’d used to a drone to bust one resident, who racked up $100,000 in fines. This year, a number of cities across the state announced they would be using drones to find scofflaws, among them Indio, Riverside, Hemet, Brea and towns in Tulare County.

Beyond the noise complaints, illegal fireworks are dangerous, sparking brush fires with regularity and occasionally causing critical injuries. On Friday, police in Buena Park said an 8-year-old girl was struck when a fireworks display in a residential neighborhood misfired. She was taken to a nearby hospital but died of her injuries. In the Bay Area, a Hayward neighborhood had to be evacuated after a “fireworks-related explosion” caught a house on fire.

Fox40 reported on Saturday that around 60 citations were being prepared in Sacramento, with more likely on the way as fire officials review surveillance footage.