Crystal Lake Police Respond To Fireworks Calls

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL —The Crystal Lake Police Department responded to 87 incidents regarding fireworks over the past week, police told Patch Wednesday. Between July 1 and 8, five people were cited for violations, Crystal Lake Police Department Deputy Chief Thomas Kotlowski told Patch in an e-mail response.

"From July 1 to July 8, we responded to 87 reported fireworks incidents," Kotlowski said. "Some of these could have been multiple calls from the same incident."

But thankfully, no one was injured by fireworks this year, Crystal Lake Fire Department Chief Paul DeRaedt told Patch.

In 2017, eight people died in the U.S. and 12,000 people were injured badly enough to need medical treatment following fireworks-related incidents, according to an analysis from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. And while the majority of these incidents are due to amateurs trying to use illegal fireworks or explosives, an estimated 1,200 injuries were from less powerful devices like small firecrackers and sparklers.

In addition, fireworks start an average of 18,500 fires each year, including 1,300 structure fires, 300 vehicle fires and nearly 17,000 other fires, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association.