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Santa Maria outlines education, enforcement and drone surveillance plan for Fourth of July fireworks
Summary
City staff described a three‑part fireworks campaign—education, enforcement and entertainment—including 23 city‑approved booths, 15,000 printed flyers, a fireworks hotline monitored by police, drone/aircraft monitoring for launch locations, and civil fines for illegal fireworks.
City staff presented the Santa Maria 2026 fireworks campaign on June 16, describing a coordinated education, enforcement and entertainment strategy designed to reduce illegal fireworks use and related injuries during the July Fourth period.
Jane Tay, the city’s administrative analyst, said the campaign will combine multilingual outreach and on‑site materials with stepped‑up enforcement. "We will include 15,000 flyers with every fireworks sale from the 23 city‑approved booths," Tay stated, and described paid and organic social media messaging, radio public‑service announcements, yard signs, and a city fireworks hotline monitored by the police department.
The enforcement component uses fines and technological monitoring. Tay said the police department will issue a $1,000 fine for illegal fireworks and noted that last year the city issued 119 citations, an 89% increase over 2024. She described an aircraft contracted by the fire department that is equipped with GPS and video to identify launch locations. Police Chief Christopher Williams explained how the technology will be used: "If it met the parameters...it can respond and record the violations that could be used for civil assessments." The chief emphasized that recorded incidents will be reviewed by staff before citations are finalized.
Council members pressed staff about potential misidentification, hotline responsiveness, and earlier cases in which residents said they received a ticket despite evidence showing they had not been lighting fireworks. One council member recounted a neighbor who had video of others launching illegal fireworks while the ticket initially went to a different property owner; staff said the citation process includes review, opportunities to plead, and that evidentiary review can lead to dismissal.
The presentation also described a family‑oriented drone show on July 3, a downtown fireworks‑education presence, and free public swim and community events on July 4. Tay and police staff encouraged residents to submit online complaints with willingness to testify, because enforcement actions often depend on witness statements.
Next steps: the city will publish education materials in English and Spanish, deploy the hotline staffing to ensure calls are picked up, and coordinate police and fire desk review of drone‑identified incidents before issuing citations.
