Ramona Giroux is happy to be one of the first residents to volunteer for a night or two collecting telephone complaints about illegal fireworks in the city’s new call-in center.
“I want to do anything I can to help on this,” Giroux said. She said backyard fireworks have reached dangerous levels in Longmont, causing problems for people who cannot stand the loud noises and smoke from the annual Fourth of July celebration.
“Last year, our neighborhood was like a war zone,” Giroux said. She lives near 17th Avenue and Hover Street and worries fireworks will also ignite a wildfire. “Recent fires have made it clear that any source of ignition, including fireworks, can easily cause a fire in our increasingly dry climate.”
Giroux helped form Protect Our People and Property, or POPP, in Longmont. The group has spoken out against unsanctioned fireworks at the city council and to other groups in Longmont.
She said the call center will collect complaints in the days up to the Fourth of July and display them on an interactive “hot map” showing where most fireworks are going off. Police could then be dispatched to specific trouble spots to discourage fireworks use rather than responding to a smattering of calls all over the city.
Police often find it difficult to enforce the ban on fireworks leaving the ground, Giroux said. Officers have to see someone actually set off the rockets or depend on an eyewitness to be able to issue a citation, she said.
The call center will help them determine the best spots to make their presence felt, she said.
“Police can then concentrate on more serious calls,” Giroux said. “And they will be able to see more clearly where the problems are.”
The call center is one fixture in Longmont’s plan to discourage amateur rockets and missiles from launching from neighborhoods over the Fourth of July holiday. Longmont is also planning a public education campaign to discourage fireworks other than the sanctioned display planned at Fox Hill Country Club by the Kiwanis Club, Sandi Seader, Longmont assistant city manager said last week.
“We want to do a marketing push for the Kiwanis show,” Seader said. “There will be concerts and food trucks so people can enjoy the free, public show. We want it to be a community event.”
Giroux said many people, especially those in vulnerable populations, are especially susceptible to firework’s smoke. “I had no idea how the fireworks residue stays in the air, long after fireworks have gone off,” she said. “But this is an issue a lot of people have to deal with.”
To volunteer for the call center, call 303-774-4440, Seader said.
