Getting Caught Will Cost You: An Illegal Fireworks Warning

Every year illegal fireworks inflict injuries, distress, fires, property loss, and even death across the country. Tune into the Elk Grove CityCast to hear from Cosumnes Fire Department Assistant Chief Lantz Rey and Code Enforcement Manager Jose Mendez on how local agencies are working together to keep Elk Grove safe and implement stiffer fines and penalties for individuals found in possession of illegal fireworks this year. Hosts John and Kristyn also share news about the City’s Salute to the Red, White & Blue celebration and a couple of exciting recent business openings.

Report illegal fireworks through the Elk Grove Police Department non-emergency number at (916) 714-5115.

Rate, review and subscribe to the Elk Grove CityCast to get more information about the people, programs, and services shaping the City. You can find the Elk Grove CityCast anywhere you get your podcasts or listen online at www.elkgrovecity.org/podcast. 

Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Elk Grove CityCast, the podcast about Elk Grove. In each episode, we'll dive into hot topics, share what's happening in the city, and introduce you to some of the people making a difference in this place that we call home. 

John Hull: Hi everybody. I'm John Hull. Welcome to the Elk Grove CityCast. Joining me is the City of Elk Grove's public affairs manager, Kristyn Laurence.

Kristyn, here it is, summertime in Elk Grove. And that means a lot of things, family, fun, outdoors. And with that, will be this month's topic on the CityCast. Fireworks. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yep. It's heating up for sure. And it's always a hot topic too. 

John Hull: Well, we'll talk a whole lot about fireworks today on this edition of the CityCast.

Now the city's Salute to the Red, White, and Blue offers an alternative to people that don't want to set off their own fireworks. It's a great, amazing aerial show. And today's episode though, Kristyn really kind of focuses on the illegal shows that we see dotting the skies leading up to the fourth and the night of and what our local officials will be doing to protect us. I mean, from those incidents that spark fear in our residents, you know, it's just sometimes flat out dangerous. to shoot fireworks ourselves. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yeah, you know, quite honestly we're usually in Elk Grove Park producing the fireworks show that's the official, you know, public fireworks show. And I can tell you, standing in the firing and fallout zones with our pyrotechnician around nine o'clock at night we look around and we could see, you know, all sorts of aerial shows taking place beyond the park and that can be quite scary 

John Hull: We'll talk a whole lot about that today on the CityCast our guests will give us the lowdown on their preparations before the fourth and some new penalties in place for this year if you decide you have to use the illegal fireworks in Elk Grove, which of course we don't want you to do.

Kristyn, could I add one thing? Different topic. The day we recorded this CityCast was June 3rd and it was the beginning of a very hot stretch of 100 degree plus temperatures. Now, I understand that the city, along with CSD, were going to open a cooling center June 4th through June 6th. So how do you decide, okay, we will provide for our residents a cooling center?

Kristyn Laurence: We work really closely with the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services and there are certain criteria that show up that would merit the consideration or opening of a cooling center, throughout the county so there's a number of agencies that are involved in hosting those kinds of amenities for residents who need them. We're talking about, you know, members of our unhoused population or members that simply don't have adequate home cooling systems or are on a budget that maybe need to try and be mindful of their usage and their power bill and a way to save.

And so we open up a cooling center when it's usually like three days. in excess of 100-degree heat. And when the delta breeze has shut off and we're not seeing a cool down at night in the case of our first activation for this season we're hosting at the Wackford Center with Cosumnes CSD and we just offer a cool place to come and sit and there's some light refreshments, water and some snacks.

And because we also know that it, it affects not just our, our human population, but some of our pets too. There's the opportunity to house a limited number of pets. We’ll have pet kennels on site and provide for that. So it happens a number of times during the season. And we'll be sending out notifications when that happens. But we are in communications with our nonprofit organizations, the folks that are serving different segments of the population that might need this kind of service. And yeah, our first activation is this week. 

John Hull: And you normally, you know, how I find out about things such as this is I followed the city of Elk Grove on X, used to be called Twitter. And that's how I first found out. Is that really about the best way for people to know that there will be a cooling center open? 

Kristyn Laurence: There's a couple of ways that people can receive the notification, and it's important for us to kind of take a shotgun approach with that announcement in that we try to get it in a lot of different places so that it can reach as many people who need it as possible. We do have a subscriber list to our newsroom that allows us to send you an email directly if you want an email info want email information from our newsroom. When we activate, we put that out. We are also active on all of our social media platforms, so we're on that announcement will show up on Facebook, on Nextdoor, on X on Instagram.

We really do try to cast a wide net to let people know about it with the understanding that a good number of our unhoused population, while they may not have shelter, they usually have smartphones and so we have connected with them to try and make sure that they have the resources available to know when we have that open for them. And so it social media is a really effective tool for us to get this information out and we appreciate the public's help as well the folks that are following us on those platforms that may have additional access to members of the population that need that to help us spread the word. 

John Hull: Okay, great. That's, that's good information. And we'll have some more questions for Kristyn later in this episode of the CityCast. Folks we encourage you, our listeners, to contribute ideas for future Elk Grove CityCasts. Just email us, publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org.  That's publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org. 

Growing up, a big part of summer, for me at least, was going to the local fireworks stand and buying a whole big bag of fireworks and then setting them off in front of my house on July 4th. But, there are some laws and regulations we all must know about. Before you start igniting those firecrackers in the middle of the night, waking up all of us in the neighborhood.

So joining me here today are two people who worked very hard this time of the year. Lantz Rey, assistant fire chief with Cosumnes fire department. And Jose Mendez, Code Enforcement Manager for the City of Elk Grove. Thank you guys for taking so much time to be with us today on the CityCast. 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, thank you for having us.

Jose Mendez: Thank you for having us.

John Hull: How important is it for you to get on this podcast today and talk about fireworks? 

Jose Mendez: Chief, do you want to start us off first? 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's something that we encounter every single year. It's a issue that is brought forward every single year. We see damage and injuries related to this every single year. We do our best to reach out to the community in a variety of ways, and we appreciate the opportunity to do it this way. We're just trying to kind of make sure folks understand what they're doing and take some responsibility and, you know, are safe. That's what we're looking to ensure. 

John Hull: Jose?

Jose Mendez: I would agree with the chief. I think it's an opportunity for us to educate our residents on the requirements to comply. It's a, it's a violation of the ordinance, obviously to use illegal fireworks, but then also I think it's an opportunity for us to share with the residents of Elk Grove, our efforts that we're putting out to try to reduce this impact because of the damage it causes both life and property damage.

John Hull: Yeah, we'll be getting into this on today's CityCast a lot more in depth. Chief Rey, I want to start with you with this thought. I've got to think that first of all in these weeks before and even after July 4th, some of the fire department's busiest days are right now. So what's been your experience with the Independence Day celebrations here in Elk Grove?

Lantz Rey: Well, I've been the fire marshal, this will be my fourth fire marshal, or fourth year as the fire marshal here in Elk Grove. Prior to that, I was a fire marshal for a city in San Joaquin County for 10 years. This is my 14th year as, you know, the lead fire marshal in a city. I've been through the highs and lows that are associated with that.

This is absolutely the busiest time. Fourth of July is the busiest day for the fire department of the entire year. It's also the busiest day for the police department in the entire year. Leading up to it is a tremendous amount of work that largely goes unseen. We do all of our vegetation management programs to make sure that we cut weeds and do all of that prior to the sale of fireworks, because we're trying to limit the potential for grass fires caused by fireworks.

Additionally, we do all of the permitting, all of the background, licensing for the 43 fireworks booth that you'll see here in the city. We will do all of that work typically starting as early as January. During the month of June itself, we do a lot of public outreach. We do public meetings. We're developing and publishing social media. And then, you know, basically it's fire season. So in addition to all the things that we're doing for preparation for the July 4th, we're dealing with fires and grass fires and all the things that we normally do. So it is absolutely the busiest time for the fire department and again, busy time for our friends in law enforcement. And we just, you know, you kind of do your best and then hope things work out. I know that's terrible to say, but that's the truth. 

John Hull: By the way, I'm just curious, Chief. Do you have any stats in front of you? The number of injuries that typically happened here in Elk Grove related to fireworks? 

Lantz Rey: The majority of the injuries are going to be relatively minor. I don't have the statistics on me. I can tell you that it's a busiest day for the burn unit in the county. And then also, you know, there have been some really significant injuries that have happened locally just outside of Elk Grove in the eastern portion of our county and others Placer County where, you know, we've had teenagers that have lost fingers and you know, done significant damage to their hands. And that's all happened recently. It happens every single year. It varies by location but we always have injuries to the civilian population on the 4th of July. 

John Hull: Yeah. Jose, great to have you back again for another episode of our CityCast. You are our Code Enforcement Manager for the City and can you tell us what City Code has to say about the use of fireworks and how your team is getting ready?

Jose Mendez: Well, thanks, first of all, it's good to be back. Yeah, in April, City Council amended Chapter 17.06 of the Municipal Code, and it basically says that fireworks are illegal to use unless they're approved by the Fire Department of the State, unless they have the safe and sane seal or they're approved by the Fire Marshal, the fireworks are basically illegal within the City limits. And that goes for anything that's a Skyrocket, Bottle Rocket, Roman Candles, Mortars, M80s, M100s, Firecrackers, Cherry Bombs. All of those types of firecrackers and fireworks are illegal in the city limits. The ordinance also speaks to accountability, or who would be held responsible if these fireworks were used within city limits. And it's anyone that's using them, but in addition to that, now, it's also anyone that a property owner, where they're allowing this, this kind of activity to happen on, whether on the street or on their property. 

John Hull: Real quick, gentlemen… you made a mention there, Jose, about safe and sane fireworks. Is there like a little label or a sticker on the legal fireworks?

Lantz Rey: Yep. There's a, there's a seal from the state the fire marshal from the state of California office of the state fire marshal. It'll be on every single one. If you buy them at a booth in our community. They're going to be safe and sane fireworks. You know, a lot of people say, oh, I didn't, I didn't know those were illegal. If you bought them out of the trunk of a car from your buddy at work, they're illegal fireworks. If you brought them in from out of state, they are illegal fireworks. The idea that you know, these people are naive to that is, is silly. If you're buying safe and sane fireworks at a local booth, you know that. If you're buying fireworks from somebody who's selling them to you, like I said privately, you know, you're not buying legal fireworks. We don't, that's not something that carries any weight when you're talking to us out in the field that night. We absolutely do not believe you that you were surprised that your fireworks were illegal fireworks. So yeah, there's a seal. They're pretty easy to tell. We go through and check. It's one of the things we're doing out on the 4th of July is we're watching anything that basically shoots along the ground, anything that explodes or anything that shoots up into the air and you know, it goes vertical is illegal in this state and for good reason, if you look around, all our grass is dry. It's very, very dry. If you lose track of one, you shoot it into a grass field or into somebody's yard. We have fence fires, roof fires, grass fires every single 4th of July. 

Jose Mendez: Sorry. Yeah. In addition to how we're preparing we're collaborating with the Chief's Department, with Cosumnes Fire, and the Chief here in ensuring that we're addressing all weed abatement issues, right? So, overgrown dry weeds are obviously a huge hazard. But I think the combination of illegal fireworks with these overgrown dry weeds poses significantly. significant danger to public to property, to the public. And so we're working pretty diligently in collaborating with Consumers Fire and addressing these, these properties, abating these weeds, cutting them down, getting, getting them out of the way so that they're not a fire hazard come 4th of July.

John Hull: You know, gentlemen, that, that's really important for everybody to realize is that in at least Sacramento County and some areas of California, the safe and sane fireworks are those that don't fly in the air. Don't go kaboom or don't scoot along the ground. Isn't that pretty much the definition of the safe and sane?

Lantz Rey: Yeah. So it basically anything that's gonna, you would lose control of, like if you shoot it and it goes somewhere it's illegal in the state of California. Anything that blows up, so your typical firecracker M 80s, M 1000s, all those things that have the potential to do property or individual damage to a person are illegal here. That doesn't mean safe and sane fireworks are necessarily safe. You know, they need to be used in a responsible way. You'll see a lot of promotional for firework safety where they talk about that the sparkler burns at about 1400 degrees, which is the same as the tip of a welding torch. And you know, you hand that to your three year old or five year old along with their popsicle and let them roam around. We get a lot of little ones that burn their feet because they're out there barefoot and they could step on embers and other things that are associated with these fireworks. And so safe and sane doesn't necessarily mean it's just, you know, anybody can do it, but it's certainly safer than the illegal stuff that's gonna, you know, shoot up in the air, get into the wind and send embers into a grass field or your neighbor's roof or trees, bushes, all the other things that we deal with every single year. 

John Hull: The probably the one incident that put them just an indelible message in my head came about, I don't remember, maybe 20 years ago where somebody thought it was neat that they had pop bottle rockets, you know, and they were throwing it at each other and it wasn't too far from where I live, but there was a house with a shake shingle roof and one of those got up on top of the roof, went off and just burned like a big hole in the roof. Thousands of dollars in damage. And that that right there told me that that's a bottle rocket with that little, you know, little bit of, you know, gunpowder, but what it did to a wood roof. I mean, I shook my head. I couldn't believe the amount of damage that that thing did. So yeah, I can understand guys that we're talking about some real danger here if you aren't careful. So let's go on. Jose, the city council approved some pretty significant changes to city code about increasing fines for those found in possession of the illegal fireworks. So you mentioned it a few moments ago, but can you tell us a little bit more about those changes? 

Jose Mendez: Absolutely. So before April, the fines were at a hundred dollars, starting at a hundred dollars per illegal firework per violation, then it went to 2, 000 and then ultimately 5, I'm sorry, 200. Then it moved on to 500. The amendment up to the ordinance chapter 17.06 now allows for us to cite at $1,000 per firework for the violation and there's not, it's not progressive, it's just a $1,000 first violation. Okay. The ordinance also allows us to hold the host responsible. That's whoever is allowing the party or allowing the activity. And so that is usually typically a property owner or somebody who's leasing or renting a property. That particular person will be held responsible that we don't we no longer have to identify the actual person that's lighting the fireworks. It will be the property owner that will be responsible for that activity.

John Hull: I'm going to come back to that in just a second, but you know, a lot of our local nonprofit organizations are selling fireworks leading up to July 4th. I believe it's what the six days prior to July 4th. Is that when those booths are open? Okay. Yeah. And they're making some pretty good money. I know that because I was with a couple of baseball organizations years ago. And one year we earned like $20, 000. I mean, it was good money for a baseball league. These booths are pretty highly regulated, aren't they chief? I mean, what, I mean, not only going in there and looking at what you're selling, but what else do you do in regulating these booths? 

Lantz Rey: So we're going to make sure the site plan that they're put in a place where if there were to be an incident there, the booth's not a hazard to nearby buildings, so you typically see them there out in the middle of a parking lot or a grass field that has been mowed down so that if there's a fire you know, it wouldn't expand. The other thing we're going to do is they're all licensed, they're insured through the vendors that they are selling fireworks for. Each of the people that is responsible for the booth goes through required training. We talk about a lot that we really don't want folks trying to save the fireworks stash if there's a fire in one of those booths. We just want them to get out. How they're set up, avoiding electrical hazards. A lot of times you'll go out and you'll find folks that are trying to make their booth as comfortable as possible. It's 105 degrees outside. It's hot. So they've added fans and air conditioners and slurpee machines and all these other stuff, and they can overload the electrical system. So we make sure that doesn't happen. We’re just basically doing common sense stuff to keep. The potential for flame or spark away from a box filled with fireworks, you know, it's a plywood box filled with fireworks. So we do a lot on the front end to make sure we haven't had an incident at one of those booths, knock on wood, in my career. And you know, I expect that to continue into the future. 

John Hull: You know, block parties are kind of a big thing on the evening of July 4th and a lot of us like to gather together and light off fireworks out in the street. I'd like for both of you to kind of give us some guidelines of, of course, people are still going to use the street for the car. So, you know, you can't be out there in the middle of the street and set up your, your, your chairs and that sort of thing, but help us in how we should set up our little block party. 

Jose Mendez: Chief, do you want to go first on that one? 

Lantz Rey: Sure. Yeah, we. Kind of the thing that I would say, set it up so that you are paying attention to oncoming vehicles especially for your little ones. We don't want any little ones bolting out in the street. I would make sure that I have a bucket of water to, when the firework is done and it's consumed itself, to just put it in the bucket of water, leave it there overnight. Make sure that the guy that is, you know, maybe responsible for making drinks is maybe not the person responsible for lighting off the fireworks. A lot of the injuries we see with fireworks are related to alcohol consumption. So have a responsible adult and that's kind of in air quotes, right? But have a responsible person doing this. And then I think you're going to be fine. If you do this out in the middle of a street that has sidewalks and there's not dry grass on either side of it. It's not blowing wind and all these other things that could be hazardous. You go out and have a great time with your family. We, we love, it's a very interesting day because it's, you're out there and you're busy and you're flying back and forth from event to event to event. And you get to see the community though, it just really enjoy the day. And as a person in the fire service, I'm certain for Jose too, it's, it's kind of what we're here to do. It's to make sure that the folks can enjoy themselves and be a part of the community and be safe. So we love it, but there's just some folks that make bad decisions and I think you've really got to have a little plan in place and then have the responsible ones be responsible, be the people that are lighting these fireworks, not the ones that are a little wild, you know, that make those decisions and make those mistakes.

Jose Mendez: Yeah, I think for property owners that are hosting I think it's ensuring that you know what’s going on on your property, right? It's ensuring that you know who’s bringing fireworks. Are they legal? Are they illegal? What's going on? Because in a previous municipality that I worked for, they hadn't amended their ordinance to enforce such a thing that we're doing now. Probably about two years ago and at multiple hearings property owners would say you know, I didn't know that this was going on on my property. And so we were citing property owners for this violation. And they just didn't have no idea that their, their guests were lighting the illegal fireworks on their property, in front of their property. So I think my recommendation is whatever party or however you decide to celebrate, just make sure that you know who's bringing what kind of firework onto your property.

John Hull: Now, yeah, if, so again, I think it's worth repeating what are the new fines or penalties for party hosts that allow people to use illegal fireworks. 

Jose Mendez: Yeah, the new citation is at $1,000 per violation per fireworks. That would be issued to the hosting person. And that would be the property owner or the tenant or whoever's hosting the event. They would be responsible for that citation. 

Lantz Rey: It's important to, it's important to note that that's per violation and each individual firework is technically a violation. So fines could escalate or ratchet up very quickly. 

John Hull: So if they haven't shot it off and you guys or your men come out and see that they have the illegal fireworks, that could be a thousand dollars per individual firework.

Jose Mendez: Correct. And it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be lit. It could be in possession of, and they would still, they would, they would be responsible for that situation. 

John Hull: This would be a good time to ask this question. What is the city of Elk Grove, Cosumnes Fire District doing perhaps in advance to let people know don't go get fireworks from Nevada. Is the state doing anything with the state of Nevada to try to cut off the flow of fireworks over here? 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, the state has been working…the state fire marshal does a good job with the resources they have. The industry in Nevada for the sale of fireworks is built to service California customers. So there are two facilities up I-80 and then in Southern California I think there's another, 79 and their business model, in my opinion, is to provide fireworks to California residents. Both of those counties where those fireworks facilities are located, they don't allow firework usage in their counties. But it is a challenge for us, and so we have law enforcement engaged now, CHP doing looking for border enforcement, the state fire marshal's office doing that as well. We start the buy/bust program so that we are attempting to find and purchase and then arrest and charge individuals that are selling. We do a lot of that stuff. Additionally, we are constantly advocating for additional resources in the state legislator or attorney general really to help us find a solution that can stop a neighboring state from having a market that is designed to sell directly to…sell a product that is illegal in our state. It's relatively easy to get. And until that happens, we are really outnumbered and out, you know, to back up slightly a little bit, we have the red, white, and blue celebration at Elk Grove park on the 4th of July. I believe the number of participants is between 20 and 30,000 citizens that come to that. We're going to run more fires that day. You know, somewhere, you know, about five times a normal day. It's the busiest day for law enforcement. Your public safety group is spread as thin as it goes on the 4th of July. We still are able to respond to our 911 emergencies. We haven't reached that point yet, but we just have a limited amount of resources. So when our citizens look out and they see this number of illegal fireworks. They get very frustrated because it's the people that are following the law that are are doing the things right. And they look and they want these people that are not following the law to be held accountable. And we're attempting to do that. But at the same time, we're investigating and you know, extinguishing and running medical calls and these other things. And so we're in a situation where it's we're really asking the community to assist us. We need you to be responsible on the 4th of July because we have so many other things that we're doing.

The use of these illegal fireworks they've created a scenario where they're getting close to overwhelming the system and we need our citizens to assist us. 

John Hull: Not very many counties in Northern California have it legal to possess fireworks and shoot them off. Is Sacramento one of the only counties where it's legal?

Lantz Rey: San Joaquin County, it's legal. Stanislaus County. It's legal To our east in Amador and Placer, you know, in the foothills it is not So no, I'd say it's probably 50 50 in the state. The more urban areas Like we are, are more likely to have the ability to shoot or to use safe and sane fireworks because we have you know, concrete and asphalt and things like that, where it can be done safely. But it's, it's about 50 50, the more rural, the county, the less likely they are to allow fireworks.

John Hull: Yeah, Chief. Maybe you could take just a moment here because this is I think really important that people know that there are some real precautions you should take if you plan to light off legal fireworks. And so in just a few moments here, tell us, okay, you got nice, safe and sane fireworks. You want to have a good time and they are beautiful. I mean, the pyrotechnics of these fireworks are incredible. So what should they do to make sure that they're safe, setting it off safely? 

Lantz Rey: Yeah. So just a couple of things. Have a garden hose ready in case you have a spark get into somewhere it doesn't belong. Have it sitting on standby. We want you to leave your fireworks in a bucket of water overnight. The biggest, the biggest cause of fires outside of your, you know, your fire, your firework landing in a dry brush field is improper disposal. So individuals will leave them out, you know, they'll shoot fireworks and, you know, maybe a couple hours goes by while they're still socializing and enjoying the neighbors in the community, 10:30 or 11 at night, they're getting ready to go to bed, they can feel the firework, it's cool to the touch, they think it's safe and they'll put it into their trash can that firework still has a chemical reaction going on. That's going to generate heat and we have every single year we have fires that are the direct result of somebody putting them in their trash can too soon. So we want you to leave them in a bucket soaking you know, fill it with water, put the fireworks in there, go to bed. Leave it on in the gutter, come back and get it in the morning. They can be safely disposed of. So those are two tricks. I would say if I was starting to get into the, the, you know, the niceties, not the necessities, I would say clean your gutters. A lot of those things you talked about with bottle rockets and stuff, landing on roofs will roll down and into your gutters. And if your gutters are packed with leaves and debris, you can have a potential for a roof fire there. And then, yeah, that's, that's kind of the three things that I see that are accessory causes of fire on the 4th of July. 

John Hull: Yeah. Now, now, Jose, I've heard about plans to host an amnesty event where people could actually turn in any illegal fireworks they have before the 4th without a penalty. So what's the, tell us about that. 

Jose Mendez: And that's correct. In the middle of June, we'll start collaborating with Cosumnes Fire to allow folks to turn in illegal fireworks, no consequences, no questions asked. The amnesty event will take place in fire station 71 as Cosumnes Fire Station 71. I don't have the exact date with me. But in the middle of June, we will start that program. 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, it's June. Jose, I can weigh in there. It's June 29th. I believe it starts at 10 and ends at 2 at fire station 71 on Elk Grove Boulevard. 

John Hull: Okay. Now, okay. A follow up question to that. What if you happen to know that your next door neighbor went to Nevada and bought some illegal fireworks, and he's boasting about oh, we'll have a great time here in front of the house, and you're not comfortable with it, so how could they report their neighbor with illegal fireworks?

Jose Mendez: John, it's a great question. Code enforcement is addressing the day of I think it's a if they wanted to file a complaint with the See, Click, Fix app, we would be more than happy to knock and talk and educate property owners. We are doing some outreach in neighborhoods where we've received complaints, where we verified the use of illegal fireworks the year prior. So prior to July 4th and probably the second week, the second to last week of June we've looked at calls for service from last year. We will be in those neighborhoods proactively. knocking and talking, passing out flyers and doing some educational outreach to inform them of the increased fines and the fact that we can hold property owners accountable. And again, that's based on prior the year prior their calls for service there. But I think if someone doesn't feel comfortable, they can file a complaint with See, Click, Fix. We would go out and make contact. As far as actual action, we would have to see the fireworks in hand or it being lit for us to cite the owner or cite the person that's using it. That's what we would do for on the code enforcement side, unless Chief wants to add more to that. 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, I would say that in the event they're using them, you know, the use of illegal fireworks is not an emergency that would justify a call to 911. The system would be quickly and is overwhelmed by those calls.

We want you to call the non-emergency number. There's also Elk Grove has a reporting email address that we can share, but in the event that somebody is doing something truly unsafe, truly an emergency, we want you to call 9 1 1. So if that person is using, you know, fireworks and they're blowing apart things in the street, then that would be a reason to call 9 1 1 or they're landing on your house and exploding or something like that. Or being shot at you intentionally. That's a, that's an emergency, but generally we want the public to understand that again talking about the potential to overwhelm the system. 911 calls just for the use of illegal fireworks are not recommended. We don't want you doing that. We want you to use the non-emergency number. We do track them. We use heat mapping. We put our resources in the field based on these calls. So it is information we want to receive. It doesn't necessarily mean you're going to see us come storming down your street to take care of it. If we have a unit in the area, we will get them over there. But again, we're talking about a community that's pushing 200,000 people and it's the busiest night of the year for both law and fire. And so we are using the resources we can. The city does an excellent job with their drone program. The drone program can be up, identify the use of illegal fireworks, document the address, document the use. And a letter may show up in the mail or a fine may show up in the mail for an individual that we didn't even make contact with. So we're getting better at this. The social host ordinance is truly the most effective way to do this. However, it is more of a funding source for enforcement, more than something that's going to, you're going to see curtail the problem. We're going to continue to deal with this. We're continuing to try and find new ways to reach these people and let them know that we don't want that done here in Elk Grove. But ultimately, we don't expect this to be an immediate solution. We're hoping it's part of a long-term solution. It's starting. And moving in the right direction.

John Hull: Well, I gotta tell you, the reason I don't look forward to July 4th, and it is my favorite outdoor holiday, because I love watching the fireworks in Elk Grove Park. It's great. But the thing I hate, guys, is starting about June 15th through about July 30th, every night I am awakened by an explosion. And I know you guys nailed somebody in my neighborhood last year, so thank you for doing that. You know, what do you do guys if, if somebody you, you know, has their M, I don't know what it is, an M80 or whatever, whatever device it is, and it, and it flat out shakes your windows. Okay. What should people do? 

Lantz Rey: So for that, that would be report that through the non-emergency contact information through the email address. Especially leading up to the 4th, if it becomes prevalent we're getting a lot in that area. It will generate our ability to basically direct our enforcement efforts on the night of the 4th. We will be out the what is it? I think starting on the 29th, the fire department the police department is going to be focused, I believe, on the 3rd and the 4th.

I'm not positive on that, but certainly the fire department's out starting on the 29th, looking for those kind of one offs. And we're Let us know. We need that information so that we can direct our enforcement efforts. And the best way to do that is through the non-emergency numbers. 

John Hull: Yeah. Lantz Rey, Assistant Fire Chief with Cosumnes Fire Department, Jose Mendez, Code Enforcement Manager here for the city of Elk Grove. This has been good guys. I, you know, this is I thought it was really important we talk about this in the days and weeks before July 4th here on our Elk Grove Citycast. But guys, is there anything else you want to mention? 

Jose Mendez: Yeah, John, if I could add so I think it's important to recognize the amount of work that's going into these efforts prior to the 4th of July and the day of. So Consumers Fire obviously is doing a lot of outreach and with the lead abatement issue that we're working on together Elk Grove PD is also going to be doing a lot of responding to calls the day of. And efforts that will be, that will address some of the complaints. Code enforcement will be out there as well, assisting with some of these calls. Public Affairs. I want to give a shout out to public affairs for all the work that they're doing. There's some, an informational flyer that's going out to the residents of Elk Grove, informing them of the amendment to the ordinance and ensuring that everyone understands and knows that the fines have increased and those kinds of things. So just want to recognize all our city staff for all the work that they did and the consumer city excuse me, Cosumnes Fire Department as well for the work that's going into this. It's a lot of effort that goes into this. 

Lantz Rey: Yeah, I'd second that, especially the public outreach individuals that are working on this. This is county wide. Every city in this county is working together. Every law enforcement, every fire department, we're working together to find solutions. You'll see a very busy law enforcement and very busy fire service on the night of the 4th. So anything you can do to behave and celebrate in a safe way helps us protect this community. And that's what we need you to do.

John Hull: It's time now for our rapid fire segment. It's where I put Kristyn on the spot with some questions about Elk Grove. By the way, if you have any questions you'd like to hear answers for, Please email us at publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org. Again, publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org.

Well, since this CityCast Kristyn has been smoking with fireworks and all that, let's now give everybody the lowdown on the Salute to the Red, White, and Blue.

That is in case there is somebody here who has never been to Elk Grove Regional Park on July 4th. Tell them, tell us what they will see. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yeah, I think there's probably a lot of people that are not familiar with it. If, if you don't live on the East side of town or you're newer to Elk Grove, you might not realize that we've been hosting the Salute to the Red, White, and Blue. This is our 27th annual event. It started as a celebration that the chamber of commerce, I believe had initiated before we were even incorporated, but the city picked up the production duties in 2010. And so each year our public affairs team and our city staff have put on the a show at Elk Grove Regional Park in partnership with Cosumnes CSD.

It's always on the 4th of July itself, and so it is a great alternative to personal fireworks, and we encourage people to come out to the park. We have a free shuttle service that's provided by SacRT. We know that it's really hot come July 4th in our area usually, and so people usually hold off on coming out to the park until a little bit later. So our celebration officially starts at the park at 5 o'clock when our vendors open for business. And we have a, a mixture of shopping opportunities and food vendors and all sorts of things. So you can either bring your picnic or you can buy food from our food truck vendors. There's about 10 different food truck options that will be on site.

We try to do something fun within the park. It's a great opportunity to spend time with your friends, family, and neighbors. And we do a bicycle parade at 6 o'clock that kind of rolls through the park. The kids usually enjoy that. We have a decorating area that is sponsored by Sutter Health where you can decorate up your bike or your wagon or whatever you've got on wheels and participate in the bike parade at six o'clock. Our opening ceremonies kick off at seven o'clock. We've usually got several members of our city council. We have a great national anthem singer that is usually one of our local talented performers that will be singing the national anthem and kicking things off before we roll into a great free concert. And this year, our band will be Agents of Rock. So, if you really like that classic rock experience, it's a very good fit with our media partner, 93.7 The River, they're a classic rock station but we think there's a, a lot of great songs that a lot of people will appreciate, you know, the, this band is kind of specializes in songs by Journey, The Eagles, Loverboy, Prince, Bruno Mars even and we think that they're going to be a really fun show.

And all of that leads up to our spectacular fireworks show. It's usually about a 20-minute show and it starts around 9 40, or as close to that time frame as possible. Our fireworks soundtrack is simulcast on 93.7 The River. So if you're away from the stage or away from our sound stations, you can still tune in and watch the fireworks set to music. And so we invite everybody to come out to Elk Grove Regional Park. It's free admission into the park. There is a $10 parking charge and more information about the event can be found on our website at www.elkgrovecity.org/4th of July. 

John Hull: It's always a great time. I, I, you know, this is the, when I first moved to Elk Grove, I moved in I think a week before the 4th of July and It was kind of how I got familiar with Elk Grove too, and We go back every year just love it.

Kristyn Laurence: It's a great big party. Like they were saying earlier in the episode. We get you know anywhere from 20,000 25 000 friends that join us at the park and We you know, we couldn't do the show without some sponsors so we really do appreciate our presenting sponsors Sky River Casino this year and they help us in covering some of those costs. It's not cheap to put on a fireworks show. 

John Hull: Yeah, we always get the blanket or a couple of lawn chairs and find a nice open spot in the grass and sit there and look so that way we have a good view of it shooting up over us. But I will say I will say you better get there early because people have done, have gotten smart on that idea and they come at five o'clock sort of stake their own property if you will. 

Kristyn Laurence: John there's people that show up at seven in the morning when the park opens to stake out spaces and I think there's you know people that are appointed by their family to sit out there and hold a spot and then the rest of them show up at like five or six.

John Hull: Yeah that's true too. Anyway it's a great time. July 4th at Elk Grove Regional Park. To change subjects since our last CityCast the Elk Grove City Council has given the green light to to move Sacramento City Zoo to our city. We'd had a, you know, an episode last month where we talked all about that. So what's going to happen next?

Kristyn Laurence: The City Council, by a majority vote, had approved the zoo project and there's was about two and a half years worth of work that would, had been put into that, a lot of different analysis. We're excited to have gotten past that point but there's still a lot more work to be done. So, in the months to follow there's gonna be a number of different things that will be brought back to council for votes. So we'll have an official operating agreement and managing agreement with the Sacramento Zoological Society. And our staff will be hard at work in, like, anticipating this ginormous capital improvement project. And so there will be a lot of bidding and contracting and things of that nature that will be going on. And so a lot of it is a little bit boring, to be honest, as far as administrative in nature. And so it will be a little bit quiet as far as, you know, there's not some big flashy renderings to share. I mean, we've put everything out there that we can to show what it might look like. But for now, we've got to put heads down and get some paperwork done and really start working on identifying other partners that will be helping to construct the project in the months and years to come, because this would be a long process.

By the same token, the Sacramento Zoological Society has a big a big goal to raise a lot of different money. They they're trying to raise $50 million. And I know in the council meeting, they indicated that they have initial commitments at $15 million. So there's a lot more fundraising work to be done and they'll be busy working on that.

John Hull: Sure. Well, we'll talk about this. I think every episode between now and when they finally open up the gates, this is going to be quite the project. Okay. To conclude our podcast for this month Kristyn, I understand a couple of big businesses have opened recently. Okay. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yeah, last week was a exciting week. There was the opening of the Nordstrom Rack, so there were a lot of happy retail shoppers. I don't know if you saw some of the footage on the news or if you experienced it yourself, but there was a big crowd on opening day that wrapped around the building. It's, it's in the Costco Shopping Center or the Ridge Shopping Center. It was a pretty long line to get in and, and, and spend money. So people are pretty excited about a new retail option in Elk Grove. And secondly the opening of Slow and Low Barbecue, Michael Hargis's restaurant concept. And if you're not familiar with Michael Hargis, he's a significant restaurateur in the region. And his other projects include Beast and Bounty in Sacramento, Milk Money which is a really fancy donut shop at one point. And also LowBrau. So this offers that West Texas barbecue type vibe with a California application. So…

John Hull: That's unique cuisine, unique cuisine, shall we say. And we also welcome Nordstrom Rack and Slow and low to our wonderful community here.

It's great to have these new new businesses. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yeah. You know, John the official opening of Slow and Low on Saturday, I saw a post the next day. It was so popular that they ran out of food. 

John Hull: Well, that has to be gratifying to the owner. Yeah. 

Kristyn Laurence: I would think so. Yeah.

John Hull: We're out. Okay, go away. We're done.  Okay.

All right. Well, folks, if you have any questions for Kristyn, please email them to us here at publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org. Again, publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org.

Now Kristyn, are we going to talk about what's next in the CityCast come July? 

Kristyn Laurence: I think we're still trying to figure things out, John, like we could go a few different directions, but July is also the city's birthday month, so we'll be turning 24 years old.

John Hull: Twenty-four. Mm hmm. Well, you, I know, I'm, now tell me that you have plans for 25. 25. coming up. I mean, you have already worked on those things. 

Kristyn Laurence: Yeah, we're starting to talk about that. We have some initial ideas and nothing firmed up just yet, but we do plan to make a big splash for 25. 

John Hull: Okay. Well, thanks, Kristyn.

Once again, comments or suggestions for future Elk Grove CityCasts please email us at publicaffairs@elkgrovecity.org. For Kristyn Laurence. I'm John Hull. Thanks for tuning in

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