Fireworks

COSTA MESA — The Fourth of July is growing in Costa Mesa. In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, with council members Wendy Leece and Eric Bever dissenting, the City Council approved permitting the sale of fireworks a day earlier than last year and allowing them to be set off the weekend leading up to the holiday, which falls on a Monday this year. The move is expected to cost the city at least an additional $1,000 in cleanup, according to the council's staff report. There are potential costs from overtime for police or firefighters responding to incidents, officials said.

COSTA MESA — School board Clerk David Brooks recently suggested that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District revisit the idea of allowing booster clubs to sell Fourth of July fireworks on Costa Mesa school properties. The ban on sales at school sites has had "unintended consequences," he said, meaning that campus programs are not benefitting as much as they can from the sales because they must compete with other programs at fireworks stands that line city streets. "We need to create the beginning of some dialogue to help the booster clubs," Brooks said.

If you're driving around town, you may notice the colorful booths. Costa Mesa is one of five Orange County cities that allow fireworks sales. The city has 35 booths selling fireworks for nonprofit programs that benefit youth and other causes. "If we didn't have it, we wouldn't have the marching program we have today," said Laura Telles, who runs the fireworks booth for the Costa Mesa High School Marching Band and Color Guard. The groups that sell them split the revenues with the fireworks companies that provide them with the merchandise.

Costa Mesa City Councilman Gary Monahan plans to ask his fellow council members to support extending the hours for Fourth of July fireworks sales at tonight’s council meeting. At least five of the nonprofit organizations that operate fireworks booths approached the city about extending operations by one hour, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m on July 4. Pop Warner Football, Costa Mesa Boys’ Basketball, the Orange Coast College Foundation, Mika Community Development Corp. and Estancia High School’s golf program argued in a city staff report that extending their operations by one hour on the final day of sales will help them raise more money for their programs.

A two-alarm fire in a Costa Mesa business in the early hours of July 5 was caused by fireworks, fire department officials said Thursday. Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Kevin Diamond said the fire at Power Chip, 986 W. 17th St., started on the roof about 1 a.m. July 5 because of a firework. The blaze required firefighters to open a sliding steel door in the front of the business and punch a hole in the roof for ventilation. Forty firefighters, seven fire engines, two fire trucks and an urban search-and-rescue responded to the blaze.

Costa Mesa officers gave out at least 42 civil citations for abusing fireworks on the Fourth of July and during the two days before the holiday, officials said Monday. The police shied away from giving out tickets last year — only one was issued — but this year resident complaints and calls from city officials led to fewer warnings and more bookings. Police Chief Chris Shawkey said last year was an anomaly, and the increased number of citations brings Costa Mesa back in line with prior years’ numbers.

Fourth of July when I was a kid meant fencing with sparklers. It meant firecracker circles. What in the heck is a firecracker circle, you ask? Simple: A handful of boys sits in a circle on my side yard — out of the view of my parents — and lights a firecracker, which is then tossed from boy to boy until it explodes on an unfortunate soul. It meant dusting off an old, pint-sized barn, jamming toy soldiers and fireworks in there, dousing the whole work-up with dad’s gasoline, creating a 15-foot or so trail of gas to the barn, setting it ablaze and watching the fire race to the barn and the ensuing conflagration and mayhem.

Ahoy. This weekend will be extremely busy on America’s waterways as boaters across the nation untie their docklines for cruising during the Fourth of July weekend. Whenever the Fourth falls on a weekend, the numbers increase and make it one of the busiest boating days of the year. Boating organizations, harbor patrols and the Coast Guard are asking boaters to boat safely and be courteous to fellow boaters. Locally in Newport Harbor, there will be two events that annually attract boaters.

Wednesday was the first day of fireworks sales leading up to the Fourth of July holiday. This year, 35 booths around town are peddling the explosive novelties, up from 32 last year. Sales will continue from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Friday and then 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. The booths are mostly run by youth sports, academic and extracurricular organizations that split the proceeds with the fireworks companies that supply the booths and the products. Costa Mesa is one of the few cities in Orange County to allow fireworks, and for years a faction of concerned residents has called for fireworks sales and use to be limited or eliminated.

With fireworks now on the market in Costa Mesa, authorities in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa want to remind residents of just what it means to be “safe and sane” and what it could cost them if they aren’t. On the Fourth of July, while fireworks are legal in Costa Mesa, setting them off in public parks is not. City parks close at dusk and there is no exception for the holiday. Public parking lots and school property are also no-nos for setting them off. Sparklers of any kind are prohibited in Costa Mesa.