{"id":347828,"date":"2026-06-05T09:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347828\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:54:11","slug":"long-beach-fireworks-fines-rocket-to-a-possible-15000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347828\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach fireworks fines rocket to a possible $15,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Setting off fireworks in Long Beach<\/a> is now punishable with a possible sky-high fine of $15,000 after the City Council approved an increase to the top penalty this week.<\/p>\n

Previously the fines ranged from $5 to $250 for a single violation of selling or discharging fireworks, firearms or \u201cother explosives.\u201d The new law, approved Tuesday,\u00a0also provides for possible\u00a0jail time of up to 15 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cFireworks are dangerous. We’re inundated with complaints about fireworks,\u201d acting Police Commissioner\u00a0Richard DePalma\u00a0said in an interview. \u201cThese increased penalties, they give us a stronger tool to deter dangerous and reckless behavior before somebody gets seriously hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

DePalma said the Long Beach Police Department doesn\u2019t track fireworks violations as a category but estimated that they’ve received hundreds of complaints each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re seeing little stuff\u00a0and we’re also seeing the big stuff now,\u201d DePalma said. \u201cThese mortars and these high-powered fireworks are becoming more prevalent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beach community\u2019s population swells during the summer, posing greater risks in the dense area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re less than 4 square miles and people live right on top of each other,\u201d DePalma said. \u201cWith these high- powered fireworks, not only is it dangerous for the people setting them off, it’s dangerous for the people surrounding it because there is potential for fire, there’s potential for damage, there’s potential for injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judges will have discretion in how they impose penalties, he said.<\/p>\n

Consumer fireworks are generally illegal to sell, possess\u00a0or use\u00a0under state law with penalties ranging from violations to felonies depending on the severity.<\/p>\n

The City Council<\/a> also clarified its language on prohibitions on e-bikes on the boardwalk on Tuesday. Long Beach\u2019s code already banned motorized bicycles from being operated on the boardwalk. The change in the code makes it clear that this refers to e-bikes, DePalma said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny motorized bicycle preceding the change the other night was not authorized on the boardwalk,\u201d DePalma said. \u201cWe just updated the language to include e-bike to modernize the language.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boardwalk is intended to be a leisure experience<\/a> where children, seniors and people with mobility issues share space with cyclists, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBicycles are allowed and these e-bikes, unfortunately, there’s people out there who don’t ride them responsibly,\u201d DePalma said. \u201cThey’re not taking a leisurely cruise\u00a0and unfortunately they ruin it for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city enforces the ban on e-bikes, including pedal-assist bikes, on the boardwalk through checkpoints, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Setting off fireworks in Long Beach is now punishable with a possible sky-high fine of $15,000 after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132,11145],"class_list":["post-347828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-nassau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}