Some Cities, Towns In California Ban Fireworks Because Of Wildfires

Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - The wildfires blazing California has taken away even the celebration of Fourth of July. Official national day firework were shelved by some cities like Folsom in Central Valley, while the police in different cities and towns had even banned the sale of pyrotechnics, with threats of arrest and penalties to violators.

The prohibition covered fireworks considered safe and sane or those that do not fly, move or explode. Border inspections have been tightened to ensure no illegal fireworks from nearby countries are smuggled in. Firework tipsters have also been tapped to report violators of the ban to the police, while choppers roam the areas to search for illegal firework displays.

Businessmen who trade in fireworks have complained of the negative effect of the pyrotechnic ban, which has the blessings of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who as a former movie star, had a lot of explosive scenes in his past action films.

"I know that the people that are selling all this stuff are going to go crazy now when I say this... but don't buy any of the fireworks," Schwarzenegger said last week, quoted by the New York Post.

Meanwhile, aside from Big Sur residents who were ordered to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, residents of over 1,600 houses in Goleta were ordered by Santa Barbara county authorities to flee Thursday night as the wildfires were fast approaching the place.

The rapid growth and spread of the fire near Goleta, which had grazed over 2,400 acres on its third day, prompted authorities to declare a mandatory evacuation, worsened by a power outage which hit the area, leaving 81,000 residents without electricity for several hours. The power cutoff was a result of flames burning the trees and shrubs under the transmission lines.