With the Fourth of July just around the corner, public safety officials and healthcare workers are advising Bay Area residents to be aware of the dangers of illegal fireworks — instead encouraging attendance at professional shows of both fireworks and drones.
“Every year, over 15,000 injuries occur from fireworks that are not condoned,” Santa Clara County Fire Chief Suwanna Kerdkaew said at a news conference Tuesday. “That is a trauma that will stay with that person potentially for a lifetime. So the way you mitigate that is through watching the fireworks display through a public source.”
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Californians to have “common sense and practice safety” to help prevent wildfires sparked by fireworks in a statement from his office. In 2025, 600,000 pounds of illegal fireworks have been seized across the state so far, his office said.
Lt. Kevin Weekes of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that the county has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal fireworks, and that enforcement action can include anything from confiscating the fireworks to being charged with misdemeanor or felony crimes. He also warned residents to be careful with the “safe and sane” fireworks that are legal in some parts of the county.
“Accidents happen with safe and sane, just like they do with the aerials and the illegal fireworks,” he said. “Anything that gets shot up in the air is a huge safety (risk) to our public, to our residents, into our hillsides within our county, so we take that very serious.”
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Fireworks without the Office of the State Fire Marshal “Safe and Sane” seal are illegal across California, and even devices that carry the seal are illegal in many counties across the state, according to Newsom’s office. “Safe and sane” fireworks include those that do not fly into the air or explode, such as sparklers, torches, smoke devices, spinners and flitting sparklers under a quarter-inch in diameter or 10 inches in length.
Bay Area cities where “safe and sane” fireworks are legal include Pacifica, San Bruno, Gilroy, Union City, Newark and Dublin, according to a statement from San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa.
In Oakland, fireworks displays are more of a nightly event than a single day’s celebration in the weeks around the Fourth of July — activity so widespread that it has sparked several vegetation fires in recent years, city officials said this week. It is illegal to possess fireworks in Oakland, but the city’s law enforcement has struggled to contain the steady drumroll of mini-explosions that can be heard around town late into summer nights.
When the holiday arrives and the sun goes down, the fireworks ring out from dozens of locations at once, with aerial bursts seen for miles around.
“As anyone knows who’s been in Oakland for any amount of time, July 4 is one of our more treacherous days when it comes to fire safety,” city Fire Chief Damon Covington said Monday at a news conference in the Oakland Hills. “Fireworks are fun and they look great, but they really are a fire hazard.”
Covington pleaded for the public to hold off on private fireworks displays this year, an appeal that carries particular significance in the hills, where a 1991 firestorm killed 25 people and consumed more than 3,000 homes. The press event Monday was held at a memorial garden built in the tragedy’s aftermath.
Kerdkaew said that fire season has begun and that, once started, wildfires can move incredibly quickly through receptive fuels. All it takes for a fire to begin is one spark.
“It does not take much to get a fire moving, and ultimately, fire doesn’t care what it burns,” she said. “It’s just looking for a source to burn, whether that’s vegetation or a home that may possess somebody’s properties of a lifetime that may or may not be replaceable for them.”
Fire Marshal Chris Bachman, a spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, said that even though the weather is not as hot as a year ago, fireworks remain nearly as dangerous. The district will again have more resources available for the expected illegal fireworks displays, just as they do each year.
“We have vegetation fires every year, because of fireworks going off amid really dried-up grass and other vegetation,” he said. “This year, the conditions are no different.”
Between 10 a.m. and 3 a.m. from July 4 to 5 last year, Contra Costa were dispatched to 317 fireworks-related incidents, including 16 wildfires, 92 exterior house fires and 13 structure fires. They also responded to three traumatic injuries caused by fireworks.
About 75% of firework-related injuries occur in the week around July 4, according to a release from the Santa Clara County Office of Communications and Public Affairs. The Santa Clara County Emergency Medical Service system is anticipating a 15% to 20% increase in calls on the Fourth, said Michael Cabano, assistant chief of the County of Santa Clara EMS Agency, at a press conference.
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“This is a message of prevention and safety, as we don’t want that holiday experience to end up with an admission or a visit to our burn center,” said Dr. Clifford Sheckter, director of the Regional Burn Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, at the Monday press conference.
Sheckter said that the most common injuries — which include lost fingers — result from explosives such as mortars. He added that even “safe and sane” fireworks can cause injuries, such as children accidentally lighting their clothes on fire with a sparkler.
“There is no child who can safely manage a sparkler,” he said. “All it takes is just resting it down at your side for a couple seconds, and your child is on fire, and then they’re in the burn center fighting for their life for the next couple of months.”
Canepa added that the noise of fireworks can be traumatic for veterans, pets and wildlife.
“Every year, shelters fill with lost animals, and veterans suffering from PTSD brace for a tough night,” Canepa said. “We can do better by celebrating responsibly and showing compassion.”