Grass Fires, House Fire and Arrests Make for Busy Fourth of July

Six grass fires, a house fire, four drunken driving arrests and several others related to fireworks festivities made for a busy Fourth of July in Roseville.

The special Fourth of July crew handed the 58 calls of illegal or problem fireworks, compared to 64 in 2011, according to Public Information Officer Dee Dee Gunther.

But according to Roseville Fire Department Assistant Chief Jeff Carmen, this year's amount of illegal firework activity was significantly higher than years past.

"Honestly our enforcement units couldn't keep up last night, there were so many illegals," he said. "I don't know why, or where they came from, but it was pretty rough."

Though Carmen didn't have specific numbers, he said the fire crew confiscated quite a bit of illegal fireworks and cited a lot of people. The misdemeanor crime is punishable by a fine or jail time, and a 24-year-old Roseville man was arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal fireworks, Gunther stated in an email.

There were also six grass fires scattered around the city, Carmen said. "We were able to get to most of them quickly," he said.

But around 11 p.m., a structure fire on McCloud Way nearly destroyed a two-story home, and was likely the result of fireworks. Though the homeowner said he'd extinguished the fireworks properly – in a bucket of water – he later found his garage filled with smoke and flames, Carmen said.

"As a result of the other fires, we were spread very thin," he said. "The fire was in the north, and well involved, and really is a total loss."

Fortunately no one was hurt and there was only property damage. "Had the occupants went to bed and not smelled the fire, it could have been tragic," Carmen said. "Fortunately they got out with their lives and health, but I think their house will be totaled and I think they lost most, if not all of their possessions."

A fire captain broke his ankle during the fire suppression efforts as well.

In related news, police officers responded to the area of South Cirby way and Piedmont Way after receiving several complaints starting at 9:15 p.m., Gunther said. Along with the 24-year-old man arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal fireworks, police arrested three others, including a 21-year-old Roseville man on suspicion of violating probation, a 39-year-old Roseville man on suspicion of violating parole and a 40-year-old Roseville man on suspicion of resisting or delaying officers.

And while the fires kept crews busy, it was a good, festive Fourth of July overall, Carmen said. "But I think next year we're going to step up our pre-Fourth of July enforcement and Fourth of July activities so we can deal with the illegal fireworks we saw this year.

"We'll see the same problems again if we don't do something different."