At least two incidents involving serious injuries have occurred and dozens of citations are expected to be issued related to the flurry of illegal fireworks use in Santa Maria.

One incident on the Fourth of July weekend involved an injury in which a victim lost fingers during the use of illegal fireworks.

“It seems like in years past we haven’t had people hurt, and then this year it’s just a lot,” Mayor Alice Patino said Tuesday.

“It is unfortunate,” Chief Brad Dandridge from the Santa Maria Fire Department said Tuesday. “Once again, the inherent dangers of illegal fireworks are what we are trying to continue to educate our community about.”

Last weekend’s injuries are in addition to another incident weeks earlier that reportedly involved juveniles — at least one of whom lost a hand when an illegal firework exploded, authorities said.

In speaking to the City Council last month, the chief referred to the incident only as causing significant injuries.

“They were very young,” the mayor said last month, “and that’s such a tragedy.”

Illegal fireworks are a common sight and sound in the Santa Maria Valley with multiple bursts heard many nights before and after Independence Day plus for hours on July 4.

While final numbers remain to be tallied, the team involved in the Santa Maria enforcement effort on the ground witnessed about 90 preliminary incidents that might lead to citations after review, the fire chief said.

The task force included city firefighters, police officers and rangers with enforcement efforts on the ground as Santa Maria again took an education, enforcement and entertainment approach.

Illegal fireworks are those propelled into the air, while allowed fireworks carry the State Fire Marshal’s safe and sane seal.

Only Santa Maria, Lompoc and Guadalupe allow the sale of safe and sane versions with all fireworks remaining illegal throughout the rest of Santa Barbara County.

“We want to deter illegal fireworks. Illegal fireworks are hazardous and can be very dangerous to our community,” Dandridge told the City Council last month.

City leaders have said the challenge with enforcement is having witnesses hesitant to get involved in actions against neighbors. That has led to cities to adopt social-host ordinances to create administrative fines that can be levied on property owners.

A related effort involved an aircraft circling above the city to pinpoint properties where illegal fireworks activity occurred, with those citations to be issued in the coming weeks. 

After the contractor reviews the data, the information will be sent to Santa Maria city staff to issue citations. 

Last year, the city handed out approximately 120 citations. 

“We’re on pace to be in line with that again,” Santa Maria Fire Marshal Jim Austin said.

The number of calls for service also were elevated. On Saturday, the Santa Maria Fire Department received 53 calls for service. A normal night would see 25 to 35 calls of service.

The 11 fires Santa Maria crews responded to involved trash fires caused by illegal fireworks or the improper disposal of used fireworks.

“Luckily, we didn’t have any big conflagrations in regards to residential or commercial fires,” Dandridge said.

He expected to provide more definitive numbers for the City Council’s meeting in early August.

Santa Maria and Lompoc council members noted that they received angry emails from residents.

“I just want to let the residents know it’s not because we didn’t do anything to try and prevent it. It’s that people just continue to act irresponsibly,” said Councilwoman Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, who was in Denver for the holiday and found the illegal fireworks use much worse.

“It is a systemic problem throughout the United States,” Dandridge said.

Likewise, Lompoc saw an increase in calls, reporting that during the 48-hour holiday reporting period, the Police Department handled 337 total events. 

“Of those, 189 were fireworks-related, representing 56% of all call activity,” according to Police Department representatives said. 

On July 4, officers handled 214 incidents, including 145 fireworks calls, with the heaviest demand occurring between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

For the two-hour period, the department received 84 fireworks calls, averaging about one every 1.4 minutes. 

During the same period, officers continued to respond to regular police calls, including disturbances, welfare checks, burglaries, vandalism, DUI arrests, hit-and-run calls and other activity.

“With 23 officers working during the 48-hour period, the data demonstrates a significant holiday workload impact and highlights the operational difficulty of enforcing fireworks violations while maintaining citywide police response,” police representatives said.

Four citations have been issued so far in Lompoc.

No injuries related to fireworks were reported in the city.

In Guadalupe, officials continue sorting out the details and don’t expect to have a tally until later this week at the soonest, according to Public Safety Director Michael Cash, who leads the city’s police and fire departments.

Guadalupe also employed drones as part of the annual crackdown on illegal fireworks use.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, which handles unincorporated communities plus Goleta, Solvang, Buellton and Carpinteria, reported receiving 231 fireworks calls July 1-5, with 176 calls on the Fourth of July alone.

A small fire did spark in Solvang near the site of the official fireworks show Saturday night but was contained at 1.7 acres, according to Capt. Mike Gray of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.