GoKawiilMore cities and towns deployed drones to spot illegal fireworks during the Fourth of July celebrations commemorating America’s 250th anniversary—leading to a $100,000 fine in one instance and coming as part of a broader national trend of first responders turning to drone surveillance.
Police and fire departments have described using both increased drone surveillance and steep fines to deter people from shooting off illegal fireworks, with many departments publicizing their drone videos on social media and warning that their drones will be watching in the future. Incidents involving illegal fireworks have led to costly fires, injuries, and even multiple deaths each year, along with creating local air and noise pollution for residential neighborhoods.
This year, the $100,000 fine for illegal fireworks came from the Sacramento Fire Department in Northern California deploying its own drones for the first time on the Fourth of July, according to CBS News Sacramento. Sacramento Fire Captain Justin Sylvia described the fire department’s drones as being capable of recording scenes in high-resolution video to help investigators identify the house or closest location using Google Maps.
Such drone capabilities allowed the fire department to count the fireworks being fired from a gathering near a home in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento, according to the TV news station KCRA 3. The drone also showed a U-Haul trailer containing fireworks catching fire at one point, although the people at the gathering managed to put it out.
The resulting $100,000 fine came from counting the number of fireworks and possibly other factors. Sacramento County assigns fines for illegal fireworks starting at $1,000 per device and as high as $10,000 per device used near sensitive areas such as schools or parks. But felony criminal charges punishable by imprisonment are also possible if illegal fireworks cause a fire that leads to property damage or bodily injury.