SR-304-003-03 (9)
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Council Meeting: May 27, 1986
Santa Mo~ca, California
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MAY 2 ? '516
To:
Mayor and City Council
From:
City staff
July 4th Fireworks Displays
Subject:
INTRODUCTION
The number of spectators at the July 4th fireworks displays from
the Santa Monica Pier and beach clubs has created a level of
disruption in the beachfront areas which makes it increasingly
difficult for the city to guarantee a satisfactory measure of
Police and Fire protection to Santa Monica residents and
visitors. The problems associated with the fireworks displays
are not new, but their magnitude and severity have greatly
escalated in recent years.
This report outlines the serious
problems associated with the July 4th fireworks displays and
arrives at recomendations to mitigate their negative impact.
BACKGROUND
The city-sponsored public fireworks display from the pier has
been a regular July 4th event for more than 25 years. July 4th
fireworks displays at the Jonathan Club and the Sand and Sea
Club are also long-standing events.
The combination of beaches
and spectacular fire~orks makes Santa Monica a highly desireable
destination for July 4th revelers, and an estimated one-half
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million people were attracted on July 4th of last year. The fact
that all other westside and south bay beach communities (except
for Marina del Rey) have prohibited any public or private
fireworks displays has tended to increase the pressures on Santa
Monica as one of the few places in the Los Angeles area where
people can take advantage of beach weather and view July 4th
fireworks.
July 4th is almost always a very busy day in Santa Monica with
an influx of large numbers of people enjoying the holiday, and
this places an additional strain on Police, Fire and other city
services. The after-dark fireworks displays, however, are
responsible for various adverse consequences (traffic
"gridlock", increased crime activity, heightened fire danger,
etc.) which would not otherwise occur. It is the growing
magnitude of these adverse, fireworks related problems which is
seriously affecting the delivery of emergency services to
residents and non-residents.
DISCUSSION
The major categories of problems tied to the fireworks displays
are: traffic, fireworks-related fires, impaired Fire and Police
services, and crowd control. Each of these categories is
discussed below with examples drawn from last year's experience.
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Traffic
Prior to and during the fireworks displays, motorists on Ocean
Avenue, 2nd street, Barnard Way, Neilson Way, and Pacific Coast
Highway illegally parked and left their vehicles unattended in
the streets. The majority of traffic lanes were blocked on all
of these principal arteries, including the emergency corridors
on Ocean Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway. Pedestrians
generally used the streets as well as the sidewalks from
Wilshire Boulevard south and from Lincoln Boulevard east. The
vehicle and pedestrian congestion on these central business
district streets was extremely heavy. Some motorists were
compelled to park as far away as 14th street and walk the rest
of the way to the beach area. Numerous reports of vehicles
blocking alleys and private driveways were received by the
Police Department, and by the time the fireworks displays ended
at about 9:30 p.m. traffic was virtually gridlocked. The
traffic was slowly funneled eastbound on the major streets
according to the Police traffic control plan, but detailed
pre-planning efforts by the Police and Fire departments to
reduce the impact of heavy traffic during this period could not
be effective in the face of almost complete disregard by
celebrants of parking and driving regulations.
Fireworks-Related Fires
Between 7:45 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. last July 4th, fire companies
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responded to a total of nine calls which were directly
attributable to the spectators at or near Palisades Park. Seven
of these fires were caused by fireworks and two were suspicious
in origin. These fires were extremely difficult to attack due
to the vertical topography of the bluffs. Making the situation
even more difficult was the fact that the fire engine stationed
on Ocean Avenue could only reach the location of the incidents
after receiving the assistance of Police Officers on foot who
slowly cleared the traffic and people in front of the fire
vehicle. These bluff fires offer the potential for quick spread
either to other sections of the bluff or to adjacent structures
both above and below the bluffs. The possibility for
firefighter injury in such situations is very high in that they
are operating on a steep and sometimes muddy slope with low
visibility conditions. Compounding the problems of both
firefighters and police officers were the hundreds of adults and
children who were endangering themselves by sitting outside the
protective boundaries of the bluff fence to get a better view of
the fireworks. The prospect of one or more of these spectators
losing their footing and sliding down the steep face of the
bluff is a constant concern during the displays.
Impaired Fire and Police services
The beach areas were essentially inaccessible to fire companies
and police units between approximately 7 p.m. and midnight on
the fourth of July. Only the motorcycle units were able to make
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their way through the traffic west of Fourth street in order to
respond to emergency Police calls, and although one fire company
and two paramedic units were stationed on Ocean Avenue they were
unable to respond to dispatch calls in a timely manner due to
traffic gridlock in the area.
Normal response time for Santa
Monica Fire and Paramedic units is between three and three and
one-half minutes. This response time nearly doubles during the
heavy periods of congestion associated with the July 4th
fireworks
displays. Any
delay in
initial response
and
firefighting actions allows a fire to gain in intensity and
increases the potential for death, injury and property damage.
Of particular concern are potential firefighting and rescue
operations in multi-residential high-rise buildings along Ocean
Avenue
or other
severely congested
streets. Such
fire
suppression operations would be especially difficult during the
hours of the fireworks shows.
Crowd Control
The large and occasionally unruly crowds that pack the beaches,
Pier and oceanfront parks in the City during the fireworks
displays have become increasingly difficult to manage. Between
4:40 p.m.
and 3:50 a.m. last year, eight felony arrests and
eighteen misdemeanor arrests were made by Santa Monica Police.
Some of the charges included: assault with a deadly weapon,
robbery, burglary, drunk driving, interfering with an officer,
and narcotics and alcohol abuse. These figures do not include
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the criminal actions that went unreported or the numerous other
less serious incidents, such as possession of fireworks or
drinking in public, that were handled through advisals or
warnings. After the fireworks displays had ended and most
families had left the area, groups of juveniles, many of them
gang members, were still active. As a result, assaults, fights
and stabbings continued to occur in the beach area until the
Police could muster enough personnel to conduct a sweep of both
the beach and the Pier and restore order.
It is nearly impossible due to the size and density of the July
4th crowds for the city's public safety personnel to control the
blatant use of illegal fireworks on the beaches and in the
parks. Their use, often times by intoxicated individuals, poses
a real danger of burns or other injuries to onlookers and
increases the possibility of accidental or intentional fires of
the type discussed earlier. Lost children are also a serious
problem for lifeguards and other officials during the nighttime
hours of the fourth when the general commotion can easily result
in children becoming separated from their parents.
SUMMARY
The July 4th fireworks displays in Santa Monica have become a
tradition which is fondly anticipated by thousands of people
both inside and outside of the city. At the same time,
undesireable consequences tied to the widespread popularity of
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the event have caused it to become a clear detriment to the
welfare of many citizens. In response to their mandate to
protect the well-being of the citizens of Santa Monica, the
city's public safety officials have developed detailed,
comprehensive plans for alleviation of July 4th disruption.
These plans, which were implemented last year, are based on the
cumulative experience of prior years and encompass full
cooperation and coordination between POlice, Fire, Recreation
and Parks and the private ambulance companies. While this
elaborate pre-planning and coordination has enabled the city to
lessen the impact which the fourth of July has on essential city
services, last year's experience demonstrates that these best
efforts are no longer an adequate response to the growing
problems associated with the fireworks displays.
A survey of three beach cities to the south of Santa Monica
(Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach) is
instructive in that it reveals a very strong opposition to any
public or private use of fireworks. The fireworks prohibitions
have been in force in these other beach cities for several years
and are based on a desire to minimize the serious fireworks
related problems which they experienced in the past. Even with a
total ban on any type of fireworks usage, these cities must
still make a heavy commitment of their public safety personnel
to anti-fireworks enforcement activities on July 4th, and the
beaches are always the primary focus for locating offenders.
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July 4th festivities will continue to place a strain on the
public safety resources of Santa Monica, with or without
fireworks. From an operating cost standpoint, the absence of
the beach fireworks displays would not be expected to
significantly impact the special staffing requirements of the
Police and Fire departments during the July 4th holiday since it
would still be one of the heaviest visitor days of the year.
But, the deleterious impact of this strain would be greatly
reduced through the discontinuation of the fireworks displays.
It is therefore the recommendation of staff, based on the
historical problems described in this report and given the
dangerous potential for a major unfortunate incident in the
future, that the city-sponsored as well as private fireworks
displays in the beach area be discontinued.
As an alternative to this prohibition of fireworks displays in
the beach area, staff is actively exploring the possibility of
an alternative City-sponsored event which will celebrate the
July 4th holiday. This July 4th celebration would ideally
incorporate the various forms of creative talent present in the
community, e.g. music, dance, theater and other artistic
endeavors, and display them in such a way that the general
public can actively participate in the festivities. Viable
options along these lines will be explored by a July 4th
Celebration Committee comprised of City officials and
representatives of the community. The committee will consider
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the specific shape that this city-sponsored celebration should
assume, and will evaluate appropriate locations within the city
for its presentation. It is firmly believed that this proposed
JUly 4th festival will be an enjoyable alternative for the
community to the increasingly dangerous fireworks displays.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It is recommended that the City discontinue the July 4th
fireworks display from the Municipal Pier.
2. It is recommended that the city prohibit the issuance of
fireworks display permits to beach clubs.
3. It is recommended that the city council instruct staff to
continue their efforts to create a City-sponsored July 4th
celebration as an alternative to the fireworks displays.
Prepared by:
Craig Perkins, Sr. Management Analyst
Helen Benjamin, Sr. Administrative Analyst
Ettore A. Berardinelli, Battalion Chief
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