Santa Maria ramping up annual fireworks educational campaign and enforcement program

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – With the Fourth of July fast approaching in just over two weeks, the City of Santa Maria is ramping up its annual educational campaign to inform the public on the rules and regulations regarding the use of fireworks.

The multi-faceted public outreach provides information regarding the use of the both legal "safe and sane fireworks," as well as illegal fireworks.

Over the next two weeks, people in Santa Maria should expect to see information provided on the city's social media, posters at local businesses and buses, public service announcements, direct mail, and on fliers handed out to customers at fireworks stands.

The City of Santa Maria is warning the public it intends to take an aggressive approach this year regarding the use of illegal fireworks, which includes any pyrotechnic that is launched into the air.

"Fireworks are a serious issue," said Mark van de Kamp, Santa Maria Public Information Manager. "The City of Santa Maria has an education and enforcement program underway. We want everyone to celebrate the Fourth of July responsibly and we know there is widespread use of illegal fireworks. We first approach that with education and tell people please do not use illegal fireworks."

For the second year in a row, Santa Maria will deploy a high-altitude aircraft with video and GPE technology that will detect where illegal fireworks are being launched.

The state-of-the-art system will be coordinated through the Santa Maria Fire Department and will be used in response to the hundreds of public complaints the city receives each year.

"This year, the City of Santa Maria Fire Department will be employing a high altitude unmanned aerial vehicle," said Jim Marshal, Santa Maria Fire Marshal. "It has high tech capabilities, including GPS and GIS that can identify parcels and addresses. That combined with the city's social host ordinance, we are going to be able to identify properties. If we identify launches. We can identify that parcel and we can cite that property owner or the person in charge of the property up to $1,000. We will be using that to identify illegal launches."

The sale of legal fireworks at neighborhood stands operated by local nonprofit organizations is set to begin next week at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28.

If you must have fireworks, you can purchase them very soon from one of 27 approved booths, they're selling safe and sane fireworks, and safe and sane fireworks are ones that don't go up in the air," said van de Kamp. "You can only use fireworks on a 12-hour window on the Fourth of July within the city limits."

Safe and sane fireworks may only be used on July 4th from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

In an effort to make sure as many people as possible in Santa Maria know all the rules and regulations about fireworks, the city is once providing information through a number of outlets.

"The city's fireworks campaign is aggressive," said van de Kamp. "We have public service announcements going out on radio and television. We have social media. We have on posters. Every single bag of safe and sane fireworks sold at the booths will have a flyer that's bilingual, half-paged, two-sided. It tells you what the rules are."

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