Fireworks sting in Salisbury leads to 8 summonses
Jun. 23—SALISBURY — Eight people from as far away as New York City have been summonsed to Newburyport District Court on illegal fireworks charges after a joint operation involving state police and the State Fire Marshal's Office last weekend.
The suspects were all stopped in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon by troopers assigned to the Fire Marshal's Office after purchasing fireworks in New Hampshire where they are legal. Fireworks are illegal in Massachusetts.
Jake Wark of the Fire Marshal's Office said the operation was similar to others around the state that resulted in about 30 criminal summonses for unlawful possession of fireworks over the weekend. Thousands of fireworks, worth thousands of dollars, were seized and will be destroyed.
"The possession and use of fireworks by private citizens is illegal in Massachusetts, regardless of where they were purchased," Wark said.
The fireworks enforcement operations began about May 20, according to State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey and Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason.
The State Police Bomb Squad saw a 63% increase in fireworks calls in 2020 over 2019. During a similar operation in 2020, there were 47 criminal summonses issued over a four-day period. This year's enforcement operation has already started and will last longer.
"In addition to special enforcement efforts to intercept fireworks coming into Massachusetts, troopers and local police will seize illegal fireworks they find during routine traffic stops," Mason said in May. "We don't want a repeat of the huge increase in resident complaints we experienced last year."
Fireworks complaints to the Lawrence Police Department increased 409% in 2020, when there were 810, versus 159 complaints in 2019. From May 1 through Aug. 31, fireworks complaints increased by 420% from 148 in 2019 to 769 in 2020.
"There will be supervised displays of fireworks this year unlike last year, so we encourage you to leave the fireworks to the professionals," Ostroskey said. "Fireworks are illegal because they are dangerous. Fires started by fireworks in Massachusetts increased 180% in 2020 from 2019."
In the past decade, there have been 941 major fires and explosions involving illegal fireworks reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System. The incidents caused 12 civilian injuries, 42 fire service injuries, and an estimated loss of $2.1 million.
Additionally, 32 people were treated at Massachusetts emergency rooms for severe burn injuries from fireworks, according to the report. This does not include visits to hospital emergency rooms for eye injuries, amputations, puncture wounds or smaller burns.
Forty-one percent of fireworks-related burn injuries reported by hospitals in the last 10 years were to children under age 18. Twenty-six percent were children under age 10, according to the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Staff writer Dave Rogers can be reached at drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
