SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong held a hearing Thursday to introduce an ordinance creating stronger penalties and enforcement of illegal fireworks use after the city saw numerous fires and what the San Francisco Fire Department called "significant" injuries over the Fourth of July weekend.
"This legislation comes before us just days after the Fourth of July, when San Francisco once again saw the real public safety impacts of illegal fireworks," Wong said at a Board of Supervisors Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting.
Over the weekend, illegal fireworks resulted in "devastating" injuries, including several people losing eyes and hands, Wong said.
SFFD responded to 146 fireworks-related calls between 9 p.m. and midnight on July 4. There were 17 grass fires, two house fires, 55 small fires like trash fires, and a self-driving car catching fire after driving over a spent fireworks box, according to SFFD Deputy Chief of Operations Pat Rabbitt.
While SFFD and emergency centers typically see a surge in injuries and fires on July 4 and the days before and after, medical and fire responses were higher this year than in past years, according to Wong.
The fact that this year's Fourth of July celebrated America's 250th birthday could play into why SFFD experienced more fireworks-related calls than normal.
"Overall, these fireworks calls seem to have been peaking," Rabbitt said at the hearing. "Medical calls have not followed any downward trend."
Mary Ruiz De La O, staff counsel with San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also spoke about how the loud booms of fireworks can cause dogs to become stressed.
"Fireworks leave animals so terrified that some suffer extreme distress," she said. "These animals express classic signs of fear, such as dilated pupils, increased heart rates, and panting. But animals with severe fear will tremble, hide, or run often through windows or chew through walls or doors in a panic."
Unauthorized fireworks are already illegal in San Francisco, but Wong said that the San Francisco Police Department doesn't have a "practical enforcement mechanism."
Carl Nicita, government affairs manager for SFPD, echoed this opinion.
"The issue this legislation addresses is that our existing ordinance prohibits the conduct, but it does not provide a local infraction or misdemeanor penalty that police officers can use when they encounter someone actively discharging fireworks," Nicita said.
The ordinance would establish a penalty structure for those who discharge illegal fireworks.
First-time offenders would be given an infraction and a ticket between $125 and $250. All subsequent offenses within five years of a prior violation would be a misdemeanor with penalties between $250 and $750 or imprisonment for up to six months.
The ordinance would apply to many types of fireworks, not just those that shoot up into the air. Sparklers, party poppers, fountains, chasers, and smoke sparks would also be subject to penalties.
The San Francisco Public Defender's Office issued a letter of opposition to the ordinance, saying that criminal penalties won't deter illegal firework use.
It also argued that people of color could disproportionately be targeted since fireworks-related calls tend to concentrate in areas populated with mostly people of color and low-income residents.
The office said that it could lead to selective enforcement if police disproportionately go after certain groups of people.
"That is a significant expansion of police enforcement power over a low-level, quality-of-life issue," the letter reads. "The impact of this policy will land hardest on the low-income residents and communities of color where enforcement is concentrated."
In response to the office's concerns over possible disparities in enforcement, Wong argued that the ordinance could help protect all residents in neighborhoods where fireworks are concentrated.
"If fireworks-related calls are concentrated in certain neighborhoods, that also means the residents living with explosions, fires, trauma, sleep disruption, and danger are from those same neighborhoods," he said. "Equity cannot only mean limiting enforcement, it must also mean protecting residents in impacted communities when they're asking for relief."
Some public commenters, like Bernal Heights resident Flo Kelly, argued that law enforcement should focus on those who sell illegal fireworks.
"Make sure that these things don't get sold," she said. "You might have a better outcome if you can coordinate with all of the towns around us."
Despite some opposition, the two other supervisors on the committee asked to be added as cosponsors to the legislation.
"I understand the spirit and excitement of fireworks," said Supervisor Danny Sauter. "But I think, as was stated earlier, it's best left to the professionals.
The committee voted unanimously to send the legislation to the full Board for review.
"Congratulations, Supervisor Wong," said Supervisor Matt Dorsey. "My dogs thank you."
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