A New York City man was seen sprinting with a massive erupting firework display as an official on Sunday told residents to not call 911 to report the sudden skyrocketed use of illegal fireworks that have overwhelmed the city because they are a form of non-violent protest.
Americans in other cities have been plagued with similar problems over illegal fireworks being blasted into the wee hours of the morning for several weeks.
In a video shared to Twitter on Monday, a two New Yorkers were driving through a local neighborhood when the spotted large flashes of firework explosions being set off near an apartment complex.
The colorful fireworks are dangerously flying in different directions as the two look on in awe.
Suddenly, an unidentified man picks up the active firework display and makes a mad dash across the street. A large cloud of smoke can be seen billowing behind him.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams urged New Yorkers to rethink dialing 311 or 911 over illegal fireworks being blasted at all hours of the night in recent weeks.
Instead, Adams suggested neighbors ‘go talk to the young people or the people on your block who are using fireworks,’ and warn them of the potential risks.
‘Stopping fireworks cannot turn into fireworks between the police and the community,’ said Adams, according to the New York Post.
‘We want a good community response to dealing with a nuisance. This is a nonviolent act. So those three numbers that we all dial, 911, get over that.’
City officials revealed that 311 complaints over the growing number of non-stop firework shows have surged in recent weeks.
In fact, more than 1,700 complaints were recorded in the first half of June alone – 80 times as many as it recorded last year at the same time.
And the use of illegal fireworks has spread far beyond New York City, with similar complaints coming from communities in the northeast and West Coast.
Adams continued that the ‘day-to-day’ policing of fireworks should come from community members or groups, like Cure Violence, that address the individuals directly.
‘That is the role of community-based groups and organizations. That is why I’m calling on the City of New York to empower Cure Violence to go into the community and talk to the residents about the dangers of fireworks.’
The New York Police Department should focus less on the presence of fireworks in the city and more on stopping the flow of the pyrotechnics into the city, Adams said.
Adams pointed out that anti-police protesters, who have overwhelmed the city with demonstrations since the death of George Floyd, cannot use a double standard and call authorities over fireworks.
‘We have left the place of 911 being the response for everything in our city. Now we have to stop talking the talk, and walk the walk,’ said Adam.
‘What does community policing look like? It’s the extension of everyday residents engaging with people when there are nonviolent acts taking place in the city.’
Even more than a noise disturbance, fireworks can be dangerous and community members should be conscious of that fact.
‘These are real dangerous instruments, you could lose an arm, you could lose an eye, you could lose your life and parents need to know … your children should not be playing with this.’
Just last week, cell phone footage captured the moment a number of New Yorkers aimed fireworks at each other.
Two men were injured in separate incidents involving the explosives, it was reported Thursday. A 33-year-old man was hit in Brooklyn and a teenager was struck in the chest in the Bronx. Both men were said to be in a critical condition.
A number of residents are already fed up with the swath of firework displays ahead of July 4.
‘These are not your normal kids playing with fireworks,’ Michael Ford, a piano teacher in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, told The New York Times.
‘These are real explosives, like Macy’s-style fireworks.’
He acknowledged that people may be reveling after lockdown orders for the Big Apple have begun to ease, but it’s causing additional problems.
‘I think it’s a lot of people who have been pent-up and need to blow off steam, but it’s just adding whole other layer of anxiety.’
Fireworks can be heard going off in all five boroughs throughout the night.
In Harlem, the noise can last until 1am some nights as it varies between loud booms and small fire crackers.
‘It’s as bad as anything I can remember,’ said Adrian Benepe, an Upper West Side resident and former city parks commissioner,
‘The police have had their hands full with major issues — demonstrations, looting and Covid — and they just don’t have the time to respond to quality-of-life issues like this,’ he added.
Justin Brannan, a city councilman from Brooklyn, said: ‘I know illegal fireworks this time of year in NYC aren’t a new thing but has it ever been this widespread? I feel like every neighborhood in the city is talking about it.’
According to Brooklyn resident Djani, who was one of the several people setting of fireworks, its being done in celebration.
‘We’re basically celebrating the fact that we survived,’ he said, referencing the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine.
‘You know when you have a storm and finally the rain is letting up.’
But the celebration is disturbing a number of residents in cities all across the United States.
In Philadelphia, residents have made similar complaints over fireworks blasting throughout the night and keeping them up.
‘People are terrified because a lot of times they don’t know if they’re hearing gunfire or fireworks,’ Jean Gajary, of Mount Airy, told CBS Philly.
She added that young children and people with disabilities are getting frightened by the continual booms.
‘I get called from someone who’s son was autistic and he’s terrified every night. People are calling me because their young children are scared and sleep-deprived.’
In response, she’d mobilized a firework task force to address the issue.
Philadelphia authorities said they’ve received 871 calls related to explosions or bombs across the metropolitan city between May 29 and June 16.
‘You’re resting and you’re going to sleep and then it’s ‘boom, boom, boom.’ You don’t know if it’s people trying to blow up ATMs, you don’t know what it is,’ said resident Rachel McDonald.
‘You don’t know what it is. It’s ridiculous and it needs to stop.’
In 2017, Philadelphia passed legislation to legalize the purchase of ‘consumer fireworks,’ like firecrackers, Roman candles and bottle rockets.
‘It has been a growing problem since they were made legal in the state in 2017,’ Gajary told KYW. ‘At that time, they started selling them in the city, even though they were illegal to use in the city.’
Some people who have joined Garjay’s task force said they had to rent a hotel or stay at a friends house to get sleep.
‘And let’s remember, they’re making these choices in the middle of a pandemic because they were that desperate.’
Some residents have even considered picking up their things and moving all together.
‘These are people, like myself, who are thinking, ”I have to leave the city if this continues.” If you can’t sleep at night for eight weeks of the year, how do you live like that?’
Further west, illegal fire works have become a nuisance for people in California’s Bay Area and Las Vegas, Nevada.
In San Jose, residents in the Roosevelt Park and Naglee neighborhoods said they’re sick and tired of the ongoing noise.
‘It keeps me up, it keeps my kids up. My Dog burrows underneath my bed,’ local Becky Piscitelli told NBC Bay Area.
‘My kids thought it was gunshots from shotguns.’
Piscitelli added that there are military veterans and people diagnosed with PTSD who have to listen to the noise every night.
‘We have neighbors who are vets and have PTSD, and it can set them off.’
Another resident said he was out trying to get food when mistook the fireworks for gunshots.
‘We just came down to get some beers and some dinner and we just heard a pop, pop, pop, boom – thought they were gunshots,’ he told KPIX-TV.
Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo, who lives in the Fruitvale neighborhood, admitted that fireworks were being let loose nearly every night.
‘It’s almost like at 9 p.m., it’s everybody’s time to hang loose and start shooting. They shoot up, not only fireworks, he said, according to ABC 7.
There’s activity sounds like bombs going off. And they last all throughout until two in the morning.’
Police in Oakland said with strain of COVID-19 and the current tensions with protests, officers may not have the resources to stop the fireworks.
‘As we’re standing here right now, we’re hearing the sounds of fireworks,’ said Oakland Police Spokesperson Johnna Watson to ABC 7 during an report.
‘Right now, we’re standing here at our Eastmont Substation. We know all around us we’re hearing the sounds of fireworks, firecrackers, M80s. Do we know exactly where they’re coming from? No.’
One problem officers are faced with when trying to stop illegal fireworks are vague details that don’t give a specific location. Another is that officers have to witness residents with illegal fireworks or lighting them to spark an arrest.
‘This has been non-stop, every night. On all social media platforms- Facebook, Nextdoor, you just see dozens and dozens and dozens of inquiries,’ said local Jeff Levin.
‘What was that? Did you feel that? Was that gunshots? Should I call the police?’
Authorities said fireworks may have caused a brush fire that prompted evacuations and injured on person on Friday.
In Las Vegas, illegal fireworks did cause a family to evacuate after illegal fireworks damaged their home.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that fireworks thrown away in a trash can caught fire around 11:50pm.
The fire spread from the trash can to the exterior wall, causing $25,000 in damage.
Although not injuries were reported, the residents have been displaced from their home amid a public health pandemic.
The American Pyrotechnics Association told KTNV has had record breaking fireworks sales during 2020.
‘Everybody has been, you know, locked down or shut-in for three, three and a half months, the weather has finally changed too,’ said Julie Heckman with APA.
‘Nice warm temperatures and people are just itching to do something.’
But local officials would rather residents stop launching fireworks arbitrarily.
‘I understand the draw and the thrill, but please don’t,’ said Deputy Fire Chief Warren Whitney, Clark County Fire Department.
‘It effects pets, it effects seniors, and it effects those with PTSD.’
Local Laura Clark told News3LV said she’s already concerned for the loud fireworks that will come on Fourth of July.
‘It’s scary. You don’t know if it’s gun shots or dynamite sticks or if it’s fireworks–you don’t know what it is,’ she said.
‘I fear for the Fourth of July when that comes up how much they’ll be doing.’
Las Vegas officials have reminded the public that the ‘You Light It, We Write It’ inter-agency effort to stop the use of illegal fireworks will be in full swing com July 4.
‘We’re putting people on notice not to buy illegal fireworks because if we catch you using them in our local neighborhoods you will be fined,’ said Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Clark County Commission Chairman.
Residents caught using illegal fireworks in Las Vegas could be forced to pay fines of $250 to $1000 and disposal fees.