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Multiple Long Beach Neighborhoods Report "Warzone"-Intense Fireworks

Wrigley, NLB, WLB, Downtown-Adjacent, Bluff, Shore hard hit; constant roar heard in Los Cerritos and ELB (the latter mainly spared)
Vice Mayor Richardson tells NLB resident on Facebook: "welcome to the neighborhood," advises talking to neighbors, posting lawn signs


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(July 5, 2017, 5:35 a.m.) -- Multiple Long Beach neighborhoods reported what residents described on social networks as "warzone" level fireworks -- M-80 type explosives and mortar launched rockets, all illegal statewide -- in and around Wrigley, NLB, WLB, Downtown-adjacent, Bluff and Shoreline areas. The roar was near-constant in Los Cerritos and ELB (the latter mainly spared but with some aerial rockets.)

LBPD Overnight Watch Commander Lt. John Kanaley says one person was shot/wounded (11 p.m. hour) in the area of Orizaba Ave./14th St. (not believed gang related, wound non-life-threatening.) Lt. Kanaley acknowledged that fireworks were loud and intense in the area of PCH in the vicinity of the L.A. River.

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LBREPORT.com received Facebook responses and text messages reporting what they saw/heard citywide. A few were dismissive (one saying "Relax people. It's not Syria. Calm down") but most were like this:

  • 9th & Magnolia. Absolute warzone.
  • Belmont Heights is the worst it's been in the 14 years that I've been here. Definitely sounds like a war zone!
  • Bluff Heights sounds like an active combat zone!
  • Bellflower and Stearns quiet.
  • Corner of Ransom and Loma- they are setting off full blown professional firecrackers. Its crazy. It's nonstop.
  • Justin Ambrose 10th and MLK same
  • Alamitos Heights. I've been hearing a steady stream since before 8:30. Not all of them are in my area, but I can hear them all around. There was what sounded like a bomb right in my alley a few hours ago. I don't recall hearing this many for this long before.
  • 10th/Ximeno. Complete war zone
  • Pine and 15 soooo loud is ridiculous, my poor doggies are shaking.
  • Belmont Shore for over an hour and a half a solid sound of fireworks. Thought it was the Queen Mary but has been going on too long. Firecrackers in alleys behind Panama Joe's. Unusual length of time.
  • Mr Mayor we need an immediate townhall to hear how this will not happen again next 4th if July, we residents deserve an answer.
  • Atlantic & South, Fireworks out of control, where are the cops?
  • Chestnut and Burnett, the police were here and the mortars started up again less than 5 minutes after they drove away. Car alarms are going off every 5-10 minutes because of the pressure wave from some of the BIG explosions. Chances of sleep tonight - slim to none.
  • 4th and Redondo. Sounds like a war zone
  • It has sounded like a #WARZONE since this afternoon from Bixby Knolls...
  • It's a war zone over here. I swear they are shooting warheads
  • LB Blvd/Del Amo going off like crazy and my grand babies keep waking up crying. Still some going off.
  • The last several weeks has been bad in the Central area. 1.30 A M shooting them off in the alley. Tonight wow way too many being shot off. It was like we were in the center of 6 shows going off..
  • Total war-zone tonight -- out-of-control.....
  • It's been going on since Saturday night in Los Altos. I still can hear them and it's 1am on JULY 5TH

Responding to a comment on his Facebook page from a NLB resident (who chairs the LB Transit governing board) that "There's more fireworks in the 9th District than the Queen Mary show," Vice Mayor Rex Richardson replied: "Welcome to the neighborhood. I got my entire block to chill out just by talking with them and posting my lawn sign. Try it next year."

As of 5:35 a.m., frequent Tweeter Mayor Robert Garcia had said nothing.

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VIDEO surfaced on social networks, in one case showing a group launching aerial rockets from LB's shoreline. To view video, click here.

Also reported from the shore: explosive fireworks, projectile fire hazard, one block E. of the 40-block of Roswell.

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Below are excerpted comments from the Wrigley Neighborhood Group Facebook page. A few were dismissive -- and one was openly contemptuous, showing video of some person(s) launching aerial rockets accompanied by comments taunting neighborhood residents -- but most were like this:

  • Realizing just how understaffed the police force is. I think it's going to take a major fire in the neighborhood to get these idiots to back off...
  • We called the cops earlier when they set off something that set off the car alarms. Last year when I called about the [aerial] fireworks, they said if I couldn't identify the person doing it, they couldn't do anything... sigh.
  • Same here. It's soooo loud
  • Choppers flew over, it was quiet for a bit, but when no ground units came, it got loud again.
  • It sounds like there's sticks of dynamite going off on 31st and Eucalyptus.
  • I just did a ride around the Wrigley area to get somewhat of a pinpoint from where most of the noise is coming. As I suspected, they're mostly coming from the other side (west) of the river. I drove west on Willow over the river and took my first right, which is Fashion Ave. Not only were there MASSIVE amounts of fireworks in the streets and in the sky, there were MANY people blatantly lighting them in the road, holding Roman candles in their hands and having no regard WHATSOEVER to any law that may be on the books. The air was so thick with smoke in that area, my clothes still smell like fireworks even after I got home...
  • ...I hope those little monsters lose the limb this sitting in between their legs
  • This is crazy, where are the police?
  • I don't think there's enough police in the entire So CA region to be able to deal with all of the kooks doing this in just Long Beach alone!! :(
  • This is just horrible! Totally inconsiderate a**holes who have NO care for their neighbors....It feels like we are smack dab in the middle of WW III right outside our home! :(
  • My husband just said the same thing. And he never says anything. Must be bad
  • WOW! Blatant disregard for the law, babies, dogs, veterans or anything else. We're surrounded by MORONS!
  • This is insane 20 St between Long Beach Blvd and Atlantic my poor dogs.
  • This is crazy my first year and wow so loud
  • This is the worst I can remember.
  • This is just maddening. So disrespectful, illegal, and inconsiderate. My first year as well... NOT a fan.
  • I'm not a fan either I have a puppy and she is not sure what's going on
  • I've had to talk to one guy with severe ptsd who was sobbing like a child.
  • My dogs are frantic.
  • I appreciate that my neighbors on Daisy between 27th and 29th are being relatively responsible this year. Happy 4th!
  • Sounds like a war zone! At first I thought it might be the Queen Mary but nope! It's North Long Beach! It's pretty quiet in Belmont Shore, I'm surprised!
  • It sounds like war outside, I don't remember this bad past years, people getting more blatant stupid and uncaring. My dog is under bed whimpering cat is running around trying to find place to hide and I am shaking with nerves..
  • I've lived here for 8 years. By far the worst off Chestnut & 25.
  • ...[W]e've lived here for 13 years and never remember it being this bad also....
  • It's bad and dogs are barking and sounds crazy outside
  • It sounds horrible on the West side. I'm on Daisy between 27th and 28th and gotta say this is the quietest year that I can remember in a long time. I hear some naughty people on the other side of Willow and the other side of the fwy tho. God save them.
  • I'm in So Wrigley, and I agree, sounds terrible on the Westside
  • Yes So. Wrigley is horrible this year...
  • It is worse this year. The police are useless.
  • I'm sure they are just too overwhelmed with this...to be able to do much...
  • That's why its best to have a gentle conversation with your neighbors.
  • This is the worst it's been in the 3 years I've lived here. It's crazy.
  • We've lived here 10 years and I believe this is the worst it's been
  • Next year I will be taking my dogs out of town. This is just ridiculous.
  • This is just crazy
  • Omg when will this stop my dog is freaking out
  • I have no doubt that if the Mayor and Chief of Police lived in Wrigley we wouldn't have this problem. I bet it's nice and quiet in their neighborhoods!
  • You're delusional, this is happening outside of your small little world. It happens every year, ALL over LA County.
  • The M80 bombs are not "beautiful". They are scary and LOUD
  • Lawlessness and mayhem
  • Lived in Wrigley 47 years. The worst yet, no respect for the law or its residents...
  • So the real loud ones are coming over the school from Chestnut...
  • I'd report it to the police; but we know that won't do any good.
  • ...Even clearer this year than last that this is completely beyond law enforcement's ability to control.
  • Deal with the real threat that goes on 24/7 this happens once a year...smh [shaking my head]

John Deats, a longtime resident of LB's Los Cerritos neighborhood (north of 405, area Pacific Ave.) described what he heard as the 8 p.m. hour entered the 9 p.m. hour, coming from areas to the south and north of him as "orders of magnitude" more intense than last year. He added that by the 11 p.m., a smokey residue was visible illuminated by area street lights.

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In a commentary on the North Long Beach News Facebook page, Dan Pressburg wrote:

...Our men in blue [LBPD] are short handed and quality of life and public safety goes right out the window each 4th of July. This year we also have officers on overtime protecting the Metro and does that make us short men in the neighborhoods? No tonight is all hands on deck. Every year attempt to call but most of the time the task up here is so overwhelming that I have given up on that tactic. So tonight I took a tour into the warzone. I always thought that over here near Deforest it was horrible. To my surprise in Coolidge it was almost three times as colorful. a rocket or firework went into the air approximately every 10 seconds from 7:00pm to 7:35 and the constant beat of the reloading was ringing in my ear. In College Square it was way less frequent about one a minute. Star King about one every 50 seconds between 8:30 and 9:00 PM. When I turned down 56th Street the smoke was thick and it looked like the fog had rolled in. I turned left on Dairy it was not quite as smoky but had to stop as they moved another box of rockets into place. I drove past and got to South Street as the rockets lifted off and I could hear the cheering. Strangely on South Street, no fireworks. Everywhere else you could see them everywhere...

An LBREPORT.com reader emailed that as of 10:44 p.m., fireworks were still be detonated in the neighborhood between Market-South Streets and LB Blvd. and Atlantic Ave.

ABC7's helicopter captured video showing part of Los Angeles with fireworks detonated in multiple neighborhoods.

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