Police have a busy holiday period

Huntington Beach safety officials responded to more than 1,000 calls, arresting dozens, putting out at least one fire and confiscating more than a hundred pounds of fireworks during the week of Fourth of July.

Police received 1,450 calls for service on the Fourth of July, with 322 related to fireworks, police Lt. Mitch O’Brien wrote in an email.

Police arrested 27 people on the Fourth, down from the 41 last year.

From July 1 to 5, police received 3,503 calls for service, with 576 related to fireworks, O’Brien wrote. Officials arrested 76 people. Police did not provide numbers from the same time period last year, nor a breakdown of the reasons for this year’s arrests.

“We had a busy Fourth of July, which was expected,” O’Brien said. “All our staff is required to work that day and we appreciate the sacrifices our officers and employees make to staff this event each and every year.”

Firefighters responded to a house fire near Trotter Drive after a family placed their discarded fireworks in a bag inside the home, Capt. Bob Culhane said. While the safe and sane fireworks had already been discharged, they were hot enough to start a fire.

No one was injured, but the fire caused about $1,000 in damage.

He said his staff was still going through hospital care reports to see if there were any serious injuries during the holiday.

Culhane said about 116 pounds of illegal fireworks were confiscated during the week. Last year, the city’s fireworks supression team — consisting of police officers and fire marshals — confiscated 165 pounds.

“It’s still big numbers,” he said. “The numbers are going to go up and down naturally.”

A two-year trial for fireworks sales in Huntington Beach ended last week.

Mayor Connie Boardman has been against the sale of fireworks and said the week before the Fourth of July that she’d like to see the ordinance expire and not renew it.

However, Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Harper said previously that he’d like to see sales become legal and that residents would come out to support fireworks.