4th of July fireworks-related police calls fell in Lacey this year. Here’s why
Fireworks-related police calls for service on July 4 plunged in Lacey this year, compared to last year, according to the city’s police chief.
Almada said a social media campaign that asked people not to tie up 911 with calls about fireworks was a success.
“I got more calls personally than you did as a department,” City Council member Lenny Greenstein quipped during the city council committee meeting Tuesday where Almada shared the data.
Fireworks are banned in Lacey, just as they are in Olympia and Tumwater, so in the past residents have called police when they see other residents using them illegally in the city.
Fireworks are not automatically banned in Thurston County, but county commissioners can ban them if they believe they pose a threat during an especially hot and dry summer. Prior to July 4, the weather was unseasonably cool and wet, so personal fireworks were allowed this year in unincorporated parts of the county.
Lacey police received 94 calls for service on July 4, 2021, but that number fell to eight this year, according to data Almada shared with the council committee. Of those eight calls, police responded to four of them and wrote no citations.
“We have to see the flame being applied to the fuse and the actual exploding of the fireworks to write a citation,” the chief said.
Greenstein said the biggest complaint he hears about fireworks in Lacey isn’t about July 4. Instead, it’s during the week leading up to July 4 and the week after, he said.
“You’re hearing them every night for a couple of weeks,” he said.
And then there are the complaints from residents who are confused by Lacey’s boundaries, Greenstein said.
They ask: Why does the city allow fireworks to be sold in the city if they are banned?
The city does not allow that, Greenstein said, but fireworks can be sold in Lacey’s urban growth area, which is not part of the city but part of unincorporated Thurston County.
“Which is understandable,” said Greenstein about the confusing borders, “because it’s not a straight line by any stretch.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2022 at 5:15 AM.
