The 16 fund-raising groups that won the public safety debate
over fireworks began selling the controversial combustibles this
morning.
Ed Jensen
– father of Gilroy High School quarterback Jamie Jensen – said
Monday he would rise early this morning to open the GHS Quarterback
Club’s stand on 10th Street. After a slight struggle with City Hall
last week, the kiosk’s shutters will swing open at 9 a.m. and
remain so for about 12 hours, Jensen
said. The city allows sales until 10 p.m., giving vendors plenty
of time to make trips back and forth to Gene Della Maggiore’s
warehouse in southwest Gilroy, where the wholesaler apportions
”
safe and sane
”
fireworks for the community vendors.
The 16 fund-raising groups that won the public safety debate over fireworks began selling the controversial combustibles this morning.
Ed Jensen – father of Gilroy High School quarterback Jamie Jensen – said Monday he would rise early this morning to open the GHS Quarterback Club’s stand on 10th Street. After a slight struggle with City Hall last week, the kiosk’s shutters will swing open at 9 a.m. and remain so for about 12 hours, Jensen said. The city allows sales until 10 p.m., giving vendors plenty of time to make trips back and forth to Gene Della Maggiore’s warehouse in southwest Gilroy, where the wholesaler apportions “safe and sane” fireworks for the community vendors.
“I’ll get there early Tuesday morning and help set up, but then I’m off to work,” Jensen said. “My big shift’s on the Fourth.”
Beginning about 5 p.m. this Friday, police and firefighters will also boost their numbers and keep their eyes out for potential problems. Regular staffing levels will suffice until that time, when 12 more police patrol officers hit the streets, according to Gilroy Fire Department Chief Dale Foster. In addition, eight more firefighters, two investigators and three chief officers will take turns responding to calls and monitoring the evening sky for bright man-made streaks from vantage points in the western hills off Mantelli Drive, according to Fire-EMS Analyst Dan Farnsworth.
“We’ve got a couple places up in the hills we usually watch out from,” Farnsworth said.
Last Fourth of July, binoculars and vigilance helped authorities issue 42 illegal fireworks citations – seven of which it later reversed. Residents are charged $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $750 for the third. Police also arrested 18 people last year for illegal fireworks possession, a misdemeanor that requires officers to prove exactly who owns the explosives. So far nobody has been cited or arrested this year, Foster said.
From up in the hills, firefighters will also see the city’s official fireworks show at GHS about 9:15 p.m.; the event will expire next year thanks to budget cuts. Still, relying on professionals and doing away with all fireworks would mean a $15,000 to $20,000 hit to Jensen’s club. The football players rely on that money for equipment, camps and just about everything else, he said.
The city also earns money from a fireworks booth, which is dedicated to the Community Services Adaptive Recreation program and raises about $9,000 a year to sponsor events for mentally and physically handicapped people, according to Sandra Sammut, the city’s recreation supervisor. In addition, the city charges each booth almost $700 for fire prevention, a temporary business license and a power hook-up – and another $245 cleaning deposit, according to city figures. After everything’s over, the city also imposes a 7-percent earnings fee on all vendors.
More than 70 residents showed up at City Hall last week, representing most of these vendors, to protest the prohibition of all fireworks. They won with a 5-1 council vote that left Gilroy the only city in the county to permit the classic Independence Day pastime. Councilman Peter Arellano supported the ban, and Mayor Al Pinheiro was absent.
The decision came despite the recent threat posed by the lightning-induced Hummingbird and Whitehurst fires and tinder-box conditions still surrounding Gilroy. The National Weather Service said Monday that there were no lightning warnings leading up to the Fourth. For its part, the council decided that banning fireworks would primarily target nonprofit community groups and responsible families who enjoy sparklers, not the typical source of past Fourth of July-related fires: high-flying explosives such as bottle rockets, M-80s and Roman candles, which Gilroy already outlaws, according to Foster.
But Heidi Collier, a resident off Santa Teresa Boulevard near Hecker Pass Highway, and dozens of others have expressed disappointment with the decision and have urged residents to consider the potential impact of a fire versus the financial welfare of some community groups.
“Now is the time to change our assumptions about what is important,” Collier wrote in an e-mail to The Dispatch. “Perhaps groups can come up with ideas such as selling reusable bags or lemonade on a hot day. Or start an Arbor Day jamboree to celebrate life-giving trees. Groups could start dry-climate trees from seed and sell them.”
Although an illegal firework landed on the roof and nearly burned down the El Toro Way home of Jess and Dolores Perez July 4, 2003, the pro-fireworks crowd has pointed out that even safe and sane fireworks are not allowed in hazardous fire areas in west Gilroy. This includes lands west of Santa Teresa Boulevard along Hecker Pass Highway, off Mantelli Drive, west of Rancho Hills Drive and in Eagle Ridge.
Fires by the numbers
2000: Two vegetation fires due to unknown cause
2001: Two structure fires and one grass fire due to unknown causes
2002: One structure fire and one grass fire due to unknown causes
2003: One major structure fire due to illegal fireworks, one major structure fire due to misuse of legal fireworks and one grass fire due to illegal fireworks
2004: One minor structure fire due to illegal fireworks
2005: One vegetation fire due to illegal fireworks
2006: Two grass fires due to illegal fireworks and one trash can fire due to misuse of legal fireworks
2007: One grass fire and one tree fire due to unknown fireworks; two trash can fires due to misuse of legal fireworks
Source: Dale Foster, Gilroy Fire Department Chief
