More than 60 citations were issued and 750 pounds of illegal fireworks were seized during a Fourth of July crackdown in Jurupa Valley, authorities said Thursday.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies, along with Jurupa Valley code enforcement officers, fanned out Wednesday night to catch individuals lighting or transporting pyrotechnics in violation of the municipal code, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Donovan Brooks.
He said that during the operation, which ran from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., public safety personnel were sent to investigate 186 complaints of illegal fireworks.
The calls for service resulted in the issuance of 63 tickets and impoundment of a third of a ton of pyrotechnical devices, Brooks said, adding that all of the devices were turned over to the sheriff’s bomb squad for disposal.
Brooks credited the anti-pyrotechnics campaign’s success, in part, on public service announcements and social media posts encouraging Jurupa Valley residents to report illicit activity.
Private parties are generally barred from setting off fireworks in Riverside County, with the exception of Blythe, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs and Indio, where so-called “safe and sane” pyrotechnics can be sold to the public.