The illegal fireworks are not yours. So why did you get a $1,000 citation from city?

You don’t have to set off illegal fireworks over the Fourth of July for the Modesto police to issue you a $1,000 citation.

Officers will enforce a new city ordinance that lets them cite the renter or homeowner who lives in a home where someone else has used illegal fireworks. Officers also can cite someone who throws a party and the guests use them.

Officers will continue to issue $1,000 citations to those they catch using illegal fireworks, which include Safe and Sane ones that have been modified beyond their legal purpose.

Modesto is not the only Stanislaus County city that can issue $1,000 citations to those who have control over a home or property. Ceres City Manager Toby Wells said his city passed an ordinance similar to Modesto’s and is working out the details of how it will be enforced.

But the county and six of its seven other cities say they do not have this type of ordinance. (Patterson officials did not respond to requests for information.)

Ripon in San Joaquin County passed an ordinance last year that is similar to Modesto’s. The citations are $250 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses. Police Chief Ed Ormonde said officers did not issue any citations under the ordinance over last year’s Fourth of July. But he said it was a success.

He said Ripon got the word out about the ordinance before the holiday and saw a drop in illegal fireworks in neighborhoods that had been problems during previous holidays. And he said officers issued about twice as many citations to those using illegal fireworks. He said there were instances in which rather than see a family member or friend who owned or rented the home get cited, the person who used the fireworks confessed.

Sgt. Pat Kimes, who oversees the Modesto Police Department’s fireworks patrol, said officers will not issue warnings and will cite those breaking the rules. He said they will cite those they catch using the fireworks and those who control the property.

“These (fireworks) are incredibly dangerous,” he said, adding that when they land they can set fire to roofs, vacant lots, trees and bushes. The people who use them can injure or burn themselves and end up in the emergency room.

Modesto and neighboring cities can appear as though they are under siege during the holiday, with loud booms and fireworks exploding in the sky throughout the cities, rattling the nerves of residents and their pets. And calls for service spike.

Stanislaus Regional 911, which dispatches for Modesto and other law enforcement and fire agencies, handles 1,300 to 1,500 calls in a typical day, said Scotty Douglass, the center’s executive director. He said those calls rise by at least 50 percent on the Fourth of July, making it and New Year’s Eve the center’s two busiest days.

Kimes said Modesto officers will patrol in pairs in unmarked cars starting a few days before the Fourth of July and a couple of days after the holiday. Modesto officers typically issue about 30 citations on the Fourth and in the days before and after the holiday.

Modesto had intended to issue citations to those who have control over properties — including homeowners who rent out their homes and property managers — for the last Fourth of July but could not because a paperwork error prevented the ordinance from taking effect in time for the holiday.

The city also faced criticism from the real estate industry who said property managers and owners should not be responsible for their tenants. The city modified the regulations to exclude property managers and owners who do not live at the property.

This story was originally published June 25, 2017 at 5:14 PM with the headline "The illegal fireworks are not yours. So why did you get a $1,000 citation from city?."