{"id":19280,"date":"2025-06-27T14:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/19280\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T14:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:32:11","slug":"fireworks-are-out-of-control-in-l-a-here-are-5-things-experts-wish-you-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/19280\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks are out of control in L.A. Here are 5 things experts wish you knew"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One thing I still can\u2019t get used to living in L.A. is the Bayhem-level of firepower Angelenos bring to bear on the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

My neighbors have already started setting them off.<\/p>\n

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By all accounts \u2014 and there are many \u2014 we are living in the illegal firework capital of the United States. That\u2019s not just because all fireworks are illegal in the City of Los Angeles, which the doctors, public safety officials and pollution experts I talked to about their dangers are at pains to point out.<\/p>\n

Many immigrant Angelenos come from cultures where DIY fireworks are common, and we\u2019re an easy drive from places where they\u2019re cheap and legal. With few exceptions, the penalty for setting off professional-grade pyrotechnics is small and difficult to enforce.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, the problem is much bigger now than it ever was. In 2024, almost 15,000 Americans were treated for firework-related injuries \u2014 a jump of more than 50% from the year prior, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 2025 alone, Cal Fire and its partner agencies have confiscated more than 600,000 pounds of illegal fireworks.<\/p>\n

Still, the folks who most want you to stop buying M80s \u2014 city managers, ER doctors, Smokey the Bear \u2014 know their pleas fall on deaf ears. The quest to save fingers, lungs, palm trees and the state budget from fireworks was described to me as \u201cquixotic\u201d and \u201cSisyphean.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even January\u2019s firestorm is unlikely to tame our passion for pyrotechnics, they said. At least one expert told me he thinks 2025 will be \u201cworse than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d describing fireworks as a kind of Freudian pressure valve for communities on edge.<\/p>\n

Here are five things experts wish you knew about your cache of emotional-support explosives.<\/p>\n

L.A. fireworks spew as much air pollution as some wildfires:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have among the worst air quality in the country on the night of July 4 into July 5,\u201d Dr. Scott Epstein of the South Coast Air Quality Management District said. \u201cOver the past 15 years, we have seen an upward trend.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are also wildly expensive to get rid of:<\/p>\n

Remember those two dozen semitrucks worth of confiscated fireworks I mentioned earlier? Golden State taxpayers foot the bill to ship them to Ohio, Hawaii and Massachusetts to dispose of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about packaging up a couple thousand pounds of fireworks and sending them to Ohio \u2014 it\u2019s going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,\u201d said Cmdr. David Barrett, head of MySafe:LA.<\/p>\n

Multiply that a couple hundred thousand times, you\u2019re looking at a budget black hole.<\/p>\n

Your kids don\u2019t want them:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number one thing kids tell us is: \u2018We don\u2019t want fireworks, but our parents bought them,\u2019\u201d Barrett told me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message doesn\u2019t need to be for kids, it needs to be for parents,\u201d he said. \u201cSomething like: \u2018How do you feel about your kid having four fingers?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries are common, even with smaller incendiaries:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things I\u2019ve seen the most are loss of a finger or a hand, or severe damage to the eye,\u201d said Dr. Jeremy Swisher, a sports medicine doctor in the orthopedics department at UCLA. \u201cBurns are the most common.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of those burns come from sparklers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, holding it for a few seconds can cause a lot of damage,\u201d the doctor explained. \u201cIt can cause deeper burns into the skin, which can lead to the need for skin grafting, many surgeries and needing to stay in the hospital for a week or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half of the 2020s could see a pyrotechnic apocalypse:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look forward to the next three years, we have the World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the year after that we have the Olympics,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cThey\u2019re all summer events, so the potential for out-of-control fireworks is significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing we need is for the Hollywood Hills to burn down because of fireworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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