Illegal fireworks continue to dazzle and terrorize local residents.

Just as the sun was going down July 4, dozens of people gathered atop a stairwell in Seaside’s Mescal Heights neighborhood to take in the view.

For hours, onlookers gathered to watch illegal fireworks, which fired into the sky in haphazard salvos all across the city, and even some being shot off in Monterey’s North Fremont District, while nearby at the top of stairs on Skyview Drive someone would periodically ignite legal, ground-bound “safe and sane” fireworks.

The spectators gathered offered numerous oohs and aahs after the particularly impressive explosions, and a vibe of celebratory chaos infused the air, as did the faint smell of sulfur.

Seaside Acting City Manager Nick Borges, also the police chief, was up at Mescal Heights for a time as well, and he struck up a conversation with a woman from the South Bay who heard, while at a conference in Monterey, that Seaside was a great place to watch fireworks. “She said, ‘It’s so beautiful,’” Borges says. But he told her that’s not the situation down on the often narrow neighborhood streets, where there are parties of 50 to 60 people, sometimes in the road blocking passage, while fireworks are popping off and there’s possibly debris on the street.

While Borges has heard from some residents this was the worst year ever, he believes the past two years have shown a decrease in fireworks – Seaside PD’s detection technology logged over 500 explosions on July 4, he says (they’ve since decreased to about 30 to 35 a day). And as for the 335 pounds of illegal fireworks Seaside PD confiscated from a residence last week, he says it made only a slight impact in that specific neighborhood.

In all, Seaside PD issued 55 citations for illegal fireworks on July 4, but footage captured by drones pinned every address where fireworks were sent off, so that number is expected to climb in the coming two weeks.

Salinas Fire Division Chief/Fire Marshall Chris Knapp, who’s been with the department about 16 years, says this was the busiest Fourth of July for the department for the last three or four years. Two structure fires could not be determined to have been caused by fireworks, though at least one of four vegetation fires is believed to have been. Additionally, two of seven trash can fires were confirmed to be fireworks-related.

Knapp says the department hasn’t yet processed all its data, so he can’t yet speak to how many citations will be issued as a result.