05 May Richmond Says It Wants to Reduce Illegal Fireworks, but It’s a Slow Burn

Richmond Fire Chief Aaron Osorio spoke before the City Council as it considered what to do about illegal fireworks (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The more than a dozen fires in Southern California that killed at least 30 this year have pushed many in the fire-prone state to increase wildfire preparedness — Berkeley officials backing one of the state’s strictest bans on combustible materials in high-risk fire areas and state officials urging a nearly identical law be sped up. Richmond is no different, but the city is putting its own spin on it.

Looking to push back against illegal fireworks, which some have raised safety concerns about, the city will get public input ahead of considering harsher penalties.

Instead of moving closer to tripling fines for illegal fireworks in high-risk areas, the Richmond City Council on April 29 opted to first get input from city staff and residents on what would be the most effective strategies to reduce usage.

“We need different city departments  — fire, police, public works — to work together … and work with residents to see what works and bring ideas to the City Council,” said council member Soheila Bana, who brought the item forward. “Let’s have collaboration to bring tangible results.”

Depending on recommendations from stakeholders, Bana and council member Sue Wilson will bring forward future policies to mitigate illegal firework use.

Since 2009, high-severity zones have largely been in District 4 and District 2, which include Point Richmond and parts of North Richmond. Proposed changes to the severity zones would remove high-severity identifiers from all District 2 areas. The proposed changes would also designate new areas near Alvarado Park as moderate to very high risk.

The state fire marshal classifies severity zones by considering factors like fuel loading, fire weather and wind. The zones guide fire safety regulations and emergency planning.

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio said the new areas are what a proposed ordinance would apply to once the fire severity zones are adopted, but that most firework-related calls for service are not in the city’s high-severity zones.

“There’s a huge risk in high-severity zones — I’m not saying it isn’t a risk — but it’s a serious problem in different aspects in different parts of the city,” he said. “It should be a blanket rule enforced throughout the city in the same way.”

Richmond was among a dozen Contra Costa cities, including Antioch and San Pablo, that had areas classified as “very high” fire hazard severity zones, the highest possible risk assigned by the marshal.

In 2021, council members rejected an ordinance that would have strengthened restrictions on illegal fireworks by making owners and tenants liable for possession or use of fireworks. Council instead directed staff to track use, educate the community on fines, and incentivize reporting illegal fireworks.

Ten firework-related citations have been issued in the last five years, according to an email Richmond Police Department Chief Bisa French sent to council members. One of the members, Jamelia Brown, said that enforcement has been little, but other citations were submitted to the city and have not been acted on. Brown said that’s partly because of a shortage in legal staffing.

City Manager Shasa Curl said that the police and fire departments, which each play a role in curbing illegal firework use, are understaffed.

Current fines for using, selling or possessing fireworks are up to $1,000, with a $250 fine for the first citation, $500 for the second within two years and $1,000 for the third and all additional citations within two years.

Osorio said that while fines should be increased to better respond to illegal fireworks, it won’t solve everything.

“It’s good to manage expectations that this is an extremely hard law to enforce just based on the nature of how people light off the fireworks, but I definitely agree that it could be a deterrent to some of them,” he said.

Osorio said there are also other things to consider when addressing illegal fireworks.

“The real problem here is that fireworks are being brought from out of state,” he said, pointing to Nevada. “These are the things that are causing problems. This is a very complex issue.”

Wilson, who said increasing fines was not an effective solution to stopping illegal firework use, agreed that there needed to be a plan to curb the influx of fireworks in the city.

Brown supported getting resident input but said it seemed that most of the public input that council members were looking for was already being gathered by the police and fire departments.

“It just seems we’re going to be reinventing the wheel instead of collaborating and engaging with what’s already existing,” she said.

French told the council that the department is using a three-pronged approach to illegal fireworks, which is enforcement, education and community engagement and coordination with city departments.

The education and community engagement part includes conversations with neighborhood councils, business owners and community organizations. French said a meeting could be added to further gather input from residents.