Longmont residents who decided to create their own fireworks displays on July 4 fueled a huge spike in complaints to emergency dispatchers and scorched the nerves of sparkler- and- bottle rocket-averse residents.
The jump in 2020 fireworks-related calls — more than 82% from the same time last year — was apparently prompted by Longmont’s decision to cancel the annual fireworks display at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, said Jeff Satur, deputy chief of Police Services.
Community displays were canceled along the Front Range, and reports of illegal fireworks were commonplace across the state.
The decision to stage homegrown pyrotechnics often came at the expense of emergency resources and the wishes of many fellow Longmonters, Satur said.
“What was disheartening for me was reading in the various social media sites, or comments in the paper about people who were going to Wyoming to buy their illegal fireworks,” Satur said. “Many said because the city canceled its show.
“As a community, I’d like people to appreciate that not everyone enjoys fireworks,” Satur added. “It disturbs people’s sleep and peace in their homes, pets can be harmed and scared, and it can hurt our veterans.”
Many social media posts complained the unregulated fireworks in Longmont were not only a nuisance but also a danger.
“I had two huge bottle rockets land and go off inside my car!” said one Facebook post. “I was driving home with two already scared dogs! My ears are still ringing! I can’t express enough how out of control our town was and still is and not a thing done to stop it!”
In 2019, between July 2 and July 5, Longmont emergency dispatchers logged 257 fireworks complaints. This year, over the same period of time, dispatchers fielded 469 complaints, Satur said.
As fireworks complaints streamed in, police also dealt with 1,014 calls for service including accidents, medical emergencies, domestic issues, assaults, sexual assaults, disturbances, welfare checks, thefts, 911 hang-ups and DUIs, Satur said.
At least 407 of those fireworks complaints came in between 8:30 p.m. and 2 a.m., or an average of 18.5 calls per hour, Satur said. During that same period of time, police averaged about 8.5 calls for service per hour for non-fireworks related calls.
“We have to prioritize our calls, and the more serious calls will get immediate attention,” said Satur, noting Longmont has 340 miles of roadway.
“As you can see that getting to all these calls is nearly impossible, especially when you consider that most of them happened over a 5 ½-hour period each day,” he said.
On July 4, crews responded to five calls for structure fires that came in after 7 p.m., Satur said.
The most serious flared at 22nd Avenue and Sherri Mar Street for fireworks “gone awry,” he said. A bush, then a tree, then light post ignited and threatened adjacent cars and homes.
The city’s wildland trucks were on patrol that night and managed to extinguish the blaze before it spread too far, Satur said.
Jerrod Vanlandingham, Deputy Chief, Fire Services, said two wildland fire trucks were put on duty Saturday night. But, in all, “there really wasn’t anything significant to report,” he said.
