Response teams ready for fireworks complaints

People should call 911 about fireworks only when there is a threat to life or property, said Anna Pendergrass, regional 911 Operations Manager.

“Noise complaints during the legal discharge periods should not be called into 911. No one will respond to these unless they are illegal fireworks,” she said, “and there are some legal fireworks being sold that will rattle your windows.

“After legal discharge times — which is 11 p.m. except on the Fourth, which is midnight — calls to 911 will be prioritized and a call may or may not get a response; it depends on the availability of officers,” Pendergrass said.

Inter-agency teams will be working over the holiday weekend, said Clark County Fire Marshal Jon Dunaway.

“We have enforcement out there with people from the fire marshal and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office,” Dunaway said. “We’ll be out there, and available for calls that come in.

“Citations are always an option,” Dunaway said. “They’re not our first option, but some people will talk their way into a citation.”

Dunaway emphasized that the teams are focusing on fireworks use that is putting people and property at risk.

“Aiming at trees or buildings; aiming fireworks — even in fun — at each other, or at other people: All of them are misuse, at best,” Dunaway said. “They’re doing it deliberately — trying to do harm — at worst.”