Elgin sees big increase in calls, tickets for fireworks

Elgin police responded to more than three times the amount of fireworks calls over the Fourth of July holiday compared to last year, but there were no reported injuries or fires, officials said.

"More people are doing them and I think more people are getting lucky," Fire Chief Robb Cagann said, adding that firefighters/paramedics in Elgin generally don't get many fireworks-related calls. "It was a pretty uneventful week for us related to that."

Not so much for the police department, which responded to 394 calls for service for fireworks from Friday through Sunday, compared to 112 calls in the same three-day period in 2019, according to police data.

Officers wrote 63 tickets for fireworks in the last three days, compared to 14 tickets in 2019.

Starting June 22, the police department assigned four extra officers per day to respond to fireworks calls, plus another six officers - so a total of 10 additional officers - on July 4, police said. That overtime payroll cost was not immediately available.

"Due to the nationwide increase in fireworks complaints, we initiated our directed enforcement earlier than in years past," Police Chief Ana Lalley said. "We strive to be as responsive as we can to our community. For many years fireworks have been illegal in Illinois and they are disruptive to our neighborhoods."

From June 1 to Sunday, police responded to 1,025 fireworks calls - more than five times the 199 calls in the same time frame last year - and issued 116 tickets, including warnings, compared to 19 tickets last year.

The police department also confiscated dozens of illegal fireworks, including mortar shells, artillery shells and more.

The evidence will be turned over to the Kane County Sheriff's Department's bomb squad for destruction, police spokeswoman Kristie Hilton said.