Don't shoot fireworks in Shasta County this Fourth of July. It's illegal

All fireworks are illegal to have and use in Shasta County without a permit.

That's the message local fire officials want to get across to the public with the Fourth of July around the corner. 

"In Shasta County, of course, all fireworks, both dangerous as well as Safe and Sane, are illegal to possess and ignite without the appropriate permit," Redding Fire Marshal Craig Wittner said.

The two big Shasta County fireworks displays — Anderson Explodes on Sunday at the Shasta District Fair grounds and the Freedom Festival on Monday at the Redding Civic Auditorium — have permits with licensed pyrotechnicians, he said. 

The multi-agency Shasta Arson Task Force on Thursday used a field behind Fire Station No. 8 off Churn Creek Road to demonstrate the dangers of lighting fireworks.

Firefighters set off a collection of fountains and other confiscated fireworks to show how easily the sparks can start a fire in dry grass.

Wittner added that local law enforcement and fire agencies will be on patrol this Independence Day. The task force says there will be zero tolerance for anyone violating a county ordinance or a Redding city code prohibiting fireworks.

Citations with fines will be issued for fireworks use and anyone who starts a fire will be held financially responsible, according to the task force. Wittner added the law allows fire agencies to charge a person who starts a fire based for the cost of responding, which can be $300 an hour or more.

Firefighters plan to keep a close watch on several problem areas. Darren Stewart of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said targeted areas include Cottonwood, Keswick, the Iron Mountain shooting range and Lake Shasta.

Stewart said several years ago, mortar-type fireworks caused about a 10-acre fire off Iron Mountain Road near the U.S. Bureau of Land Management shooting range northwest of Redding.

Stewart said boating deputies on Lake Shasta are available to watch for people from out of town and out of state who don't know the county's laws and might shoot fireworks from houseboats.

"Even if you're in the middle of the lake, fireworks are still illegal in Shasta County no matter where you are," Wittner said.

Wittner offered the following advice where Safe and Sane fireworks are legal, such as in Tehama and Humboldt counties.

"We want folks to have fun on the Fourth, but go to a county that permits the activity and do it safely in those legal counties," he said.

Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.