DENVER — Police departments and sheriff's offices across the Denver metro area got hundreds of calls about illegal fireworks this past week, leading to the Fourth of July.
Any type of fireworks that leaves the ground is illegal in Colorado. Examples of prohibited fireworks are firecrackers, bottle rockets, lady fingers, mortars and Roman candles.
Depending on where you live, however, there may be certain types of firecrackers that are permitted, such as sparklers, snakes, fountains, tanks, smoke bombs, wheels and ground spinners.
Cities and counties activated fireworks complaints hotlines or asked people to call non-emergency dispatch numbers to report use of illegal fireworks.
9NEWS reached out to several police departments and sheriff's offices across the metro area about fireworks calls for service and citations.
Denver
The Denver Police Department said on Wednesday it had received a total, so far, of 1,650 calls for service on fireworks between June 15 and Wednesday. Most of those – 1,175 – were between Friday and Tuesday.
Officers have issued three citations, Denver Police said.
This was the most calls for service on fireworks since 2020, when Denver Police received 5,389 calls between June 15 and July 6.
Arapahoe County
In Arapahoe County, the Sheriff's Office said it received 303 calls for service between Friday and Tuesday.
Data provided by the Sheriff's Office shows that complaints this year were about the same as the past two years – 300 in 2022 and 326 in 2021.
None of those years compared with 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic, when the county received 448 complaints. The Sheriff's Office received 364 complaints in 2017, 358 complaints in 2018 and 193 complaints in 2019.
This year, the Sheriff's Office said it has issued no citations.
"I understand people are seeing something that is illegal, but with finite resources like we have now, we have to pick and choose where we go and we can’t be everywhere at once," Patrol Sgt. Ronald Luton said.
"If we show up and the crime of the fireworks being lit off is not occurring -- we have other things that are more pressing that we have to do to get back in service to start handling those other calls," Luton said.
Douglas County
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said that between Friday and Tuesday, their office received 520 calls for service on fireworks. They also received 14 calls because of roads blocked for fireworks and 10 noise complaints due to loud parties and fireworks.
A Sheriff's Office spokesperson was checking on how many citations, if any, were issued.
Jefferson County
JeffCom 911 said the county received 1,050 calls on its fireworks hotline between Saturday and Tuesday. Those calls were passed along to city police departments and it was up to each department to decide whether to respond.
JeffCom 911 also launched a new app this year to allow people to report fireworks complaints online. Around 400 complaints came in this year.
Last year, they received about 1,400 calls on fireworks, according to JeffCom 911.
"The Fourth of July at 911 is like the Super Bowl for us. It’s the busiest day of the year," said Gina Ramirez, Operations Manager with JeffCom 911. "We had 19 dedicated personnel to answer strictly fireworks calls at our hotline. Over the four-day period they answered over 1,000 calls. Our app received over 400 calls."
Even after setting up a dedicated fireworks hotline and a new app to report fireworks, calls to 911 in Jefferson County were up 33% from usual. They still pass along every call to police dispatch.
"If somebody chooses to call 911 to report fireworks, the true emergencies are the ones that get put on hold," Ramirez said. "At one point on the Fourth of July we had over 252 calls pending in a certain jurisdiction."
In the City of Wheat Ridge, which is in Jefferson County, police said they received 95 calls for service on fireworks and issued one citation between Sunday and Wednesday.
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