Colorado Springs police officers and arson investigators confiscate fireworks
Police and fire crews across the state teamed up Wednesday to make sure personal fireworks didn’t translate to more disasters in neighborhoods.
Fireworks were confiscated by Colorado Springs Police and Fire Department. In the three days leading up to the Fourth of July festivities, 277 calls were made reporting illegal fireworks.
For that reason, eight police officers were teamed up with fire marshals after 5 p.m. Wednesday. They were specifically on the lookout for those lighting up the streets illegally.
“Between the hours of 5 p.m. up until midnight, they responded to 138 calls for service,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Kris Cooper with Colorado Springs Fire Department.
The first pile of fireworks was confiscated by those eight patrol units, who were out on the streets until the early hours of Thursday morning. There were more than 150 items seized, ranging from reloadable mortars to rockets. (PHOTOS)
“The other patrol units just took their fireworks to the evidence locker for destruction,” said Cooper.
According to Cooper, Wednesday night’s crew didn’t make any arrest or hand out any citations.
“Mainly because when they got there, either the fireworks were already completed, or when they pull up to a large group, no one admits to being the owner,” said Cooper.
But officers who were working their regular routes did catch a few people.
“We won’t have a total of ticket counts for five to seven days they have to merge into our system,” said Lt. Howard Black with Colorado Springs Police Department.
Black said the stash of fireworks may not be a large amount, but it could be a sign that many citizens held off lighting up fireworks since there’s so many wildfire burning in the state.
“A very small fraction of a city of 500,000 — there are some people that weren’t too concerned about the fire conditions in our city,” said Black.
Whether the number of fireworks confiscated was small or big, officers and arson investigators did everything they could to prevent fires and injuries.
The fireworks that were confiscated will be sent to the bomb/arson unit for destruction.
