Kent’s fireworks ban leads to calm before the storm

It appears the city of Kent’s ban on fireworks might have kept nights quieter leading up to the Fourth of July. But then the illegal activity boomed.

Kent Police received 389 fireworks-related complaint calls (292 on July 4) between July 1-5, up from the 371 received in 2016 when the city still allowed the sale and use of certain fireworks.

“The hot spots seemed to be primarily on the East Hill, with the exception of 38th Avenue South on the West Hill,” said Kent Police Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell in a Wednesday report to the City Council.

The East Hill hot spots included along 120th Avenue Southeast between Southeast 216th and 223rd streets; the dead end near Southeast 238th Street and 108th Avenue Southeast; and 124th Avenue Southeast between Southeast 208th and 216th streets.

The council voted 5-0 to approve the ban last year. The former city code allowed fireworks to be discharged from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4 and the sale of fireworks from June 28 to July 4. The council received numerous complaints over the last few years about fireworks in neighborhoods and submitted an advisory measure to residents who voted to approve a ban.

Councilman Les Thomas, who wasn’t at the meeting when the council approved the ban, voted against the ban in an earlier council committee meeting. But he said the ban seemed to help in the days leading up to the Fourth of July.

“I have to offer an apology to the mayor and the rest of my council members because I have to admit up to the third of July it was much, much quieter,” Thomas said at the council meeting in response to Kammerzell’s report. “It was amazing. There was a significant difference between years past, and I’ve lived a lot of them.”

Kammerzell said officers noticed a difference as well.

“It appeared the ban on sales had a positive effect as the days prior to the Fourth and earlier in the day on the Fourth were noticeably lighter than previous years,” Kammerzell said.

But then the peaceful night disappeared.

“On the Fourth, from 10:30 on it was amazingly louder than I’ve heard in previous years,” Thomas said. “It was like they had saved up the whole week and then on the Fourth, ‘I’m going to let them have it.’ I don’t know where they got these things, they were big. It went on until about 2 in the morning.”

Richard Wilkinson, who lives on the East Hill, told the council during the public comment period that fireworks exploded often in his neighborhood on July 4.

“I have a hot spot for you to add to your areas,” Wilkinson said. “Between 3 in the afternoon and 3 a.m., my family had a similar experience to Councilmember Thomas. It was much worse than last year and there was no police presence during all of that time.”

Gwen Allen-Carston, another East Hill resident, told the council things seemed quieter.

“I would have to say the fireworks were diminished in my area,” she said. “I typically had awaken to trash up and down the roads. But now I came out and there was not that much.”

Police had emphasis patrols from July 1-5, including three patrol units assigned to fireworks.

“We are still waiting on data regarding the number of infractions issued,” said Kammerzell, who plans to return to the July 18 council meeting with specific numbers. “We did make numerous confiscations. Emphasis officers confiscated four carloads, including one with the back seat and trunk full. I know of one emphasis officer I spoke to that worked primarily on the West Hill and downtown that had three infractions, eight warnings and 15 confiscations that filled two carloads.”

Police had a total of 524 calls on July 4, with 292 (56 percent) for fireworks. Sixteen officers were on patrol during shifts from 6 to 10:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. One officer noted 76 holding calls for police about fireworks at about 10:40 p.m. on July 4.

Fireworks calls to police

July 1: 17

July 2: 23

July 3: 39

July 4: 292

July 5: 18 (up to 9 a.m.)

Total: 389