Hanford Insider: Illegal Fireworks Crackdown

Welcome And What’s Ahead

On this episode of the Hanford Insider, we'll hear from Fire Chief Daniel Perkins about the It's Not Worth It campaign aimed at reducing the use of illegal fireworks this Independence Day holiday weekend. And Rob will give you a look at some of this week's community news and events. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, June 22nd.

Welcome to the Hanford Insider, where community meets conversation. Each week we spotlight the people, events, and ideas shaping Hanford and Kings County, sharing the positive stories that bring our community together. I'm your host, Rob Bentley. Let's get started.

Wastewater Rates And City Priorities

In community news this week, the Hanford City Council met last Tuesday, and their approval of an increase in wastewater rates has received a lot of criticism. I haven't always agreed with the decisions made by the Hanford City Council, but the current council has earned my trust. Because of that, I support the wastewater rate increases needed to address the long overdue repairs and upgrades to our wastewater treatment system. These are issues that the previous city councils were hesitant to tackle, and those delays have left the city facing a much more urgent situation today. I also commend the city council for fiscal responsibility. The original cost of the improvements was estimated at nearly $70 million, but through tough negotiations, the project cost was reduced to $59 million, saving Hanford ratepayers approximately $11 million while still moving forward with these critical upgrades. For the average homeowner, monthly wastewater rates will increase from about $31 today to approximately $39 over the next four months. While no one welcomes higher utility bills, the new rates will place Hanford in the middle of the range of neighboring communities while ensuring that critical infrastructure improvements are finally addressed. In my view, investing now is far more preferable to continuing to delay necessary repairs and passing on even greater cost on to future generations. The next Hanford City Council meeting is scheduled for July 21st. Congratulations to Hanford Police Officer Anthony Zamora for being recognized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving California for his contributions to end drunk and drugged driving. In 2025, he arrested 21 people on the streets of Hanford. Thank you, Officer Zamora, for taking DUI drivers off the road and saving lives.

Community Wins And Weeknight Events

At this week's Thursday Night Marketplace, it's the official start of summer celebration with Glenn Delpitt and the Subterraneans. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. On Wednesday, June 24th, there will be a candidate information night for community members interested in running for city, school, or special district offices. It will be held at the Kings County Government Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Email elections at countyofkings.com for more information. The Kings Fair opens this Thursday, June 25th. For more information about this year's event, visit Kingsfair.com. Also on Thursday, June 25th, the City of Hanford will be hosting a Summer Safety Council Connect at the Hanford Civic Auditorium beginning at 5.30 p.m. This will feature Mayor Mark Pyris, City Manager Chris DeVares, and representatives from the Police, Fire, and Parks and Community Services Department. Stop by and chat with them. They'll be happy to answer questions about their services and discuss any questions you might have. On Friday, June 26th, the Hanford Department of Parks and Community Services will have their second free summer movie night in the park at Centennial Park. The movie is Zootopia 2, and it will begin at dusk. The fun begins at 8 p.m. The City of Hanford's Freedom Fest and Fireworks Show will be held on Saturday, July 4th at the Hanford Softball Complex on Centennial Drive from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The fireworks show will begin at 9 15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online through Event Running. There's also special VIP seating and parking packages available. Contact the city at 559-585-2525 for more information. If you have an event coming up large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to hamfordinsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available.

Summer Calendar And Local Announcements

And that involves a lot of celebrations and it involves fireworks. This is a great opportunity for us to catch up with Hanford Fire Chief Daniel Perkins. How are you doing, Daniel? I'm doing fine, Rob. How are you? I'm doing fantastic. Daniel, we have talked about this for several years. We've probably had you on the show, I think each year for the last three years,

Why Illegal Fireworks Keep Happening

to talk about fire safety and especially fire safety on Independence Day. And this Independence Day is a big celebration for a lot of reasons. As I mentioned, people are celebrating graduations or celebrating World Cup or all these different sports. There's lots of reason to be happy. And sometimes that involves fireworks, and especially on the 4th of July. And because of the city has had an incredible amount of interest in illegal fireworks. And I know that the city council has given you some directives towards pursuing charges and enforcement and regulation of fireworks throughout the city. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So when I talked to you last year, we talked about this it's not worth it campaign that was coming up in 2026. And now we're here, and there's a lot of new regulations that go into place. How has the city council directed you to enforce fireworks?

So in 2025, we really did a lot of deep dives into the municipal code, looking at what other best practices were out there from other agencies. And at the direction of the city council in September of 2025, we came up with the idea that we would call this effort that we're going to experience this year in 2026 the It's Not Worth It campaign. And what we really found from 2025 and from previous efforts in 2024, we cited 22 people in 2024. We gave out those 22 citations and only four of them resulted in anyone receiving a fine. So really, to the person who's utilizing those illegal fireworks, it was kind of worth it. Yeah, there's like no teeth to it. There's no teeth. It was only a $1,000 fine. No matter if you had one firework or a thousand fireworks, it was $1,000. If your firework show that you brought in from illegal fireworks cost you $5,000, well, a thousand dollar fine isn't really going to prevent me from doing anything. So in conjunction with that, our 2025 efforts doubled our suppression forces as they were changed from 2024. Now we were able to get to those fires that were happening. We didn't have any near misses or near tragedies with people's houses burning. We're able to answer all the calls for service that were there from the fire end of it. And so what we needed was we needed a combination of both things, the ability to do enforcement as well as do suppression efforts, because the fire department is the only group that's going to come when there's an actual fire and put the fire out. So this year, with the

Drones And Evidence Based Citations

direction of council, we came up with the It's Not Worth It campaign, really underpinned by the efforts of the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs or drones. We have three drones that were given to us through grant funds. We've had them for about three years. We have a multitude of drone pilots. And each of those drones that we're going to have up on the 4th of July has forward-looking infrared. In other words, it can see at night. And it has the ability to pinpoint within about a three-foot accuracy from 400 foot in the air who is doing the illegal activity, where exactly it is within a three-foot accuracy range. And utilizing that drone technology, we're taking that video evidence of someone doing this illegal activity. So the forward-looking infrared tells us that there is an illegal activity or a firework going up in the air, it flies to the general area where that is happening. It pinpoints it. We map it. So if people think, well, they're never going to see me, or I didn't see anybody try to give me a citation. The way that we're doing the citations is just like we would do all other code enforcement efforts, we're going to cite you. You're going to get the site in the mail. We're going to try to get to that location and take photos of that actual activity also happening. So we have a dual piece of evidence and then move on to the next one. So people might think, well, nothing happened to me on the 4th of July. I'm scot-free. Except when you open your mailbox and you see the citation come from the city and you look at that, and now the sticker shop happens. But the it's not worth it part of it is now going to be evident.

Social Host Liability And Stacked Fines

And really what I want to talk about too is the changes that we had to go through to enact that at the direction of City Council. So what they experienced in 2023 prior to me getting here, or even in 2022, were people coming to City Council and saying, Well, it wasn't mine. It wasn't my my doing. It was on my property, but it's not my fault. So now we are adhering to the social host ordinance, specifically a more strict version of that social host ordinance, where it's if the illegal activity is happening on your property, you are actually held liable for that. And we have all of that solidified in and codified in the hand-free municipal code. In sight of all of that, we are also utilizing a stacking effect, much like it would be for a gun and drug charge. So if you use a gun and you have drugs, both of those combined are a much stiffer penalty than one or the other separated. If you have more than one fuse on an illegal firework, whether it's been fired or not, you're in possession of those fireworks or you've fired them off from that property. Now we have the video evidence from the drone. We have ground evidence from us taking pictures where that illegal activity was happening. And then now we can stack those fines because each of them still remains a thousand dollar violation, but we can stack up to 10 of those. So now we can become it could become a $10,000 fine, making it not worth it. And that's different from previous years. Uh, how is it different? Before we would only be able to do a thousand dollar fine and we would try to get people to pay it, um, but didn't have a lot of teeth. Now we have this 30-day period that you can say, hey, I I don't agree with this. I'm gonna bring it to an appeals process, but you still have to pay the fine up front to go to the appeals process. You go in front of an administrative law judge or an administrative lawyer that the city has done through their code enforcement processes. So now we use the exact same set of people that do for violent dogs or other things that are out there that people are contesting when the city's trying to apply an administrative citation. And if it's found that you're still at fault, you lose that case and you're still on the hook for those fines or those fees. And again, it can be up to $10,000 in one 24-hour period. So if it's at $11.59 and 50 seconds, and now we're going to issue those fines for those illegal fireworks. And now it's at 1201 and 10 seconds, and now there's another 10 fireworks that get fired from that property. Theoretically, you could have up to a $20,000 fine happening within that two-day period.

That's crazy. I was just sitting here thinking about how that could add up for somebody. It would be bad. So the department has taken a good approach to educating the public.

Outreach Efforts And Early Fire Calls

We've seen you on TV, we've seen you in newspaper articles, uh, you're here on the podcast. What other kinds of community outreach uh activities have you done to start letting the community know about this?

We really worked with the city council. That was one of the requirements from the city council and the directives. So we spent a significant amount of money in purchasing 250 yard signs. You'll see them all over the city. We had efforts to make sure that we were out in front of every Hispanic channel or every Spanish-speaking channel, as well as the English-speaking channels all throughout the Central Valley, all of the larger news agencies, uh, radio shows, podcasting, all of those efforts to get that message out about it. So there isn't an excuse of the dog ate my homework. I wasn't aware. If you're not aware at this point, yeah, I think you might be living under a rock.

Yeah, we were with the cert team passing out flyers at the Thursday Night Marketplace, and I was asking somebody passing out flyers. I said, Hey, uh, do you have problems with illegal fireworks in your neighborhood? And the person said, Well, I am the problem in my neighborhood. And it was like, Oh my gosh, people don't get it, do they? Um, you've already now you've already had some fires this year related to illegal fireworks, yeah?

Yeah, we've had four uh since about June 5th to now. We've had four fairly small fires. A couple of them did threaten uh structures, so it's a larger scale response, but they were all specifically related to fireworks. So the cause was from fireworks, either in people's backyards. Luckily, people were home, the business owner was present, but again, we were already seeing them start, and many people are already complaining about the fireworks. So, again, for all of all the people that think, well, I didn't get caught, no one told me, no one gave me a ticket that day. Now we don't have to be present. You can actually get a citation as a result of this drone technology and someone doing it just like we would do in any other code enforcement effort. You're gonna get a citation in the mail. And again, it could be definitely not worth it when you open it up and look at it, and it's between five, ten, and possibly could go to twenty thousand dollars if it's over that breakover period from one twenty-four-hour period to the next 24-hour period. So we're really trying to do what the council had directed create an it's not worth it element to this problematic piece of illegal fireworks.

You said you had a number of firefighters trained in flying the drones. What kind of preparations have they been making for this?

They've been doing over the last 90 days um significant beta testing to ensure first that the map technology marries up with the drone, that we can see it at night, we can see people, we can see property lines, we can see all of those elements. So we've done, I think, about six beta tests working at night with different flares, different flashlights, people trying to confuse it with lasers, people trying to shine lights at the drone. We're trying every possible conceivable thing that would make this effort not work. So if you can come up with a different way of doing it other than shooting it out of the sky, which I would not recommend at all, because then it becomes a felony, which you really don't want to know what the ramifications are from.

Why The Push Matters Nationwide

I think one of the bigger things to talk about too is why this effort. Why are we really seeing this big push? Not just because it's a problem in Hanford, but I think a lot of people don't realize this is a nationwide problem, especially post-COVID. Just in this last year, from 2025 to 2026, we saw a 51% increase in major injuries from fireworks. We went from three deaths that we would see typically in a year to 11 deaths from fireworks, not including the deaths we had in the large-scale explosions of legal fireworks. Those are just on July 4th alone. And people don't realize that the firework business for the 4th of July is now in the United States almost a $3 billion business. It went from $2 billion to almost $3 billion in one year. So now we're seeing those implications. This is also causing $350 million in direct loss from injuries, long-term injuries to business with people having their fingers blown off, their arms hurt, burns, eyes, so many tragic preventable injuries. And that's really one of the missions of the Hanford Fire Department to prevent those preventable tragedies. This is one of them. It's just not worth

How To Report Fireworks Correctly

it.

Daniel, I know last year that when we talked with Chief Huddleston, that there is a better line to call than 911 on 4th of July when there's fireworks. So what is that number and why is it so important to use that non-emergency line?

I think one of the things to reiterate, if you do have a fire and you do have an emergency, 911 is the number to call. Don't think twice about that. If it's an emergency, dial 911. Illegal fireworks firing at your neighbor's house in some other area is not an immediate emergency. It can be really bad, but we want everyone to know to direct you to this phone number. 559-585-2540.

I know the My Hanford app, a lot of people like reporting stuff on that, but that's not the place for this, is it?

No. Do not use the My Hanford app. Don't do 311 call 559-585-2540. One of the important things about that phone number is all of the calls for illegal fireworks are going to be queued. You're you're thinking, oh, no one's doing anything about it. It's not going to stop the firework from being done this year. The thing that will stop the fireworks from being done will take time. We were going to queue all of these calls, the drone technology that we're using, and we'll be utilizing three drones simultaneously on the third, fourth, and fifth to track all of these illegal firework activities. They'll be flying, they'll be taking pictures, they'll be using a ground unit to come in and corroborate that there are illegal activities happening there. All of that evidence will then get queued up and will issue cite administrative citations based on the number of illegal fireworks that we know came from those properties. And that's the really important feature. And then when someone gets the bill in the mail and they open it up and the sticker shock happens, they'll realize it's not worth it.

A Fire Chief’s Personal Reason

Daniel, to close, I'd like to ask you a little personal question because we can hear it in your voice. You deeply care about the citizens of Hanford. Uh, you're a sworn officer.

But it goes beyond that, doesn't it? Absolutely. I've been a resident here almost 10 years. And I think one of the things in living in a community is you become part of the fabric of it. You see the things that could damage it. You you forecast, and it's really my job. My job as the fire chief is really to participate in long-term visions and planning. What do we want the city to look like? And one of those things that really speaks to my heart is to make sure that the community is safe. And when we have things that are happening that aren't safe, like illegal fireworks, and we see it time and time again, produce a tragedy at the end. Maybe it's not the time that you light an illegal firework because when you're seeing it light up, you see the big boom, but you don't see where the embers go. You don't see where that burnt shell goes, where that huge mortar body goes that's on fire, drops in someone's backyard, lights their bushes on fire, ends up in the attic, attic space of that. And then two or three hours later, the fire department's there fighting an attic fire that you caused. That to me is something that I'm very passionate about. I want to make sure that people know this isn't because I'm trying to be Joe Macho firefighter. I'm not trying to be out there, be the tough guy. I want to make sure that people know, care about what you're doing. Know that your actions can really have a big, deep, long-lasting impact and can actually hurt or even kill someone. You can cause someone to lose their home. And today, in today's economy, that's the last thing we need. We don't need more homeless people. We don't need more issues that are coming back to bite us. And this is something that we can prevent. And that's really the mission of the Hanford Fire Department. At its core, prevent preventable tragedies. Look for those ways to prevent those tragedies. This is one of them. And really know, it's not worth it.

Daniel, thank you so much for your service to the city of Hanford. We've got a winner of a fire cheap, and your staff here at Hanford Fire Department is second to none. And we appreciate all the efforts that your department is making to make Hanford a safe place this Independence Day. So thank you so much. Thank you.

Next Week Tease And Ways To Support

Well, that wraps things up for this week's show. Tune in next week to hear from Brad Albert about the Hanford Freedom Fest and Fireworks Show coming up on the 4th of July. If you're enjoying this podcast and you want to support it, you can head over to buymeacoffee.com slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. Or you can Venmo me directly. To stay connected, join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get weekly updates plus an exclusive newsletter delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. I'd also really appreciate your help spreading the word about the show by liking and sharing on social media, or like most people, just telling a friend. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. And if you've got a show idea, send me an email at hamfordinsider at gmail.com and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening to the Hanford Insider Podcast. Have a great week.