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Firefighters and police warned that people should not try to set off their own fireworks, yet illegal private displays were going on throughout the city.
One man reportedly suffered a serious fireworks injury in Huntington Beach, but early details were sketchy. Firefighters could only say that an adult male had been taken with fireworks injuries to Huntington Beach Hospital. he was then transferred to the UCI Medical Center, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bob Culhane.
Despite the large and very public fireworks spectacular in Studio City shot off from the CBS Radford Studios, there was a group of people near the Colfax Bridge not far away shooting large-sized rockets in the middle of Colfax Avenue, often while cars were driving past.
Police and firetrucks did comb the area, but the man, in a red shirt who kept going in and out of a house in the area, kept coming out and lighting more at the encouragement of the crowd.
A cache of 6,500 pounds of illegal fireworks, a firearm stolen from a police officer and approximately $30,000 were seized from a Compton home, sheriff's officials said. The seizure brings to 26,500 pounds the total amount of fireworks seized by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in the span of a week.
In the latest seizure, deputies from the sheriff's Compton Station learned fireworks were being stored at and sold from a detached garage at a home in the 1100 block of East Pine Street and executed a search warrant around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a sheriff's department statement.
The fireworks, valued at $15,000, were found in the detached garage, which was converted into a fireworks stand where skyrockets, mortars and assorted other pyrotechnics and explosives were for sale. The firearm was reported stolen from a Long Beach police officer, according to the sheriff's department.
Although there were no reported injuries locally, officials urged Southland residents to reduce the risk of fires by shunning use of personal fireworks this Fourth of July, and they're vowing to crack down on drunken drivers.
Far more fires are reported on July 4th than on any other day of the year, with fireworks accounting for 40 percent of them, more than any other cause, according to a report issued last month by the National Fire Protection Association, a Quincy, Mass.-based organization that bills itself as the world's leading fire prevention advocate.
The risk of fireworks injury is highest for children 5 to 14 years old; it is more than twice the risk for the general population, the report said.
In 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available, fireworks caused an estimated 15,500 fires, resulting in eight civilian deaths, 60 civilian injuries and $36 million in direct property damage, the report found. Hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 8,600 people for fireworks- related injuries in 2010, it said.
"Possession and use of fireworks in Los Angeles is illegal, and for good reason," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "Every year, too many children are injured due to fireworks on the Fourth of July.
"I urge you to consider the legal ramifications, as well as the potential harm to the adults, children and landscape around you before you take hold of any illegal fireworks this holiday."
The Los Angeles County DUI Task Force plans to deploy special saturation patrols tonight, said Glendora Police Department Chief Rob Castro, the task force's coordinator.
"The Fourth of July is one of the deadliest holidays due to an increase in impaired-driving fatalities," Castro said.
"Too many people die behind the wheel due to those who choose to drive after drinking, so officers will be out in full force, showing zero tolerance for impaired drivers."
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