Months after imposing fines of up to $300,000 for illegal firework activity around the Fourth of July holiday, the city of Stanton has agreed to reduce those penalties to at most $10,000, the city said.
After the Fourth of July last year, 18 Stanton residents received fines for alleged illegal firework activity, ranging from $1,000 to several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Each alleged instance of illegal firework activity carried a $1,000 fine.
Stanton drones reportedly captured $929,000 worth of illegal firework violations, during last year’s Fourth of July holiday period, according to Stanton City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn.
All of the fines were appealed in the fall.
But, the city has now settled with most of the citation receivers to pay up to $10,000, which can be paid through a monthly payment plan.
The city rolled out a Fourth of July drone program in 2025 to catch and fine those engaging in illegal firework activity following the passage of a spring ordinance that stated that property owners are responsible for the illegal firework citation regardless of whether they were on the property at the time of the alleged illegal fireworks.
The ordinance went into effect after years of the city struggling to curb illegal fireworks. Before last year’s drone program, illegal firework enforcement relied on Orange County sheriff’s deputies witnessing a person lighting an illegal firework before a citation could be issued, according to OCSD spokesperson Sgt Gerard McCann.
In neighboring Buena Park, 8-year-old Jasmine Nguyen of Anaheim was killed by an illegal firework explosion on the Fourth of July in 2025.
So, what will happen to all that citation money? Under a state health code, 65% of the collected money will go to the State Fire Marshal. The rest will go to the city’s general fund to offset the costs associated with the drone program, said Shin-Heydorn.
Stanton will continue enforcing illegal firework activity, said the news release.