ILLEGAL FIREWORKS `RAMPANT' 100-PLUS CITED, ARRESTED JULY 4.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- More than 100 people were cited or arrested and thousands of skyrockets and other illegal fireworks were confiscated in crackdowns on illegal Fourth of July fireworks displays, sheriff's officials said Wednesday.

Hundreds more people around Palmdale, Lancaster and the neighboring unincorporated communities were openly shooting off illegal fireworks Tuesday night, but deputies couldn't get to them all, officials said.

``When you're citing an individual, they're (fireworks) going up on the streets all around you,'' Palmdale sheriff's Sgt. Kyle Bistline said.

``It was rampant. (Deputies) said they felt like they were grabbing handfuls of sand and throwing it into the ocean, so to speak,'' Lancaster sheriff's Deputy Mike Kuper said.

While use of illegal fireworks was widespread, the damage from fires was less than last year, Los Angeles County fire officials said.

Last July 4, one fire spread into 15 backyards in an older Palmdale neighborhood -- destroying 12 sheds, 14 vehicles and two travel trailers -- and other fires destroyed a vacant mobile home and a parked car.

On Tuesday, the worst blaze was a one-acre grass fire in Quartz Hill that spread to a motor home, causing $18,000 damage. In all, firefighters answered more than 180 fireworks-related calls in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Jason Hurd said.

Higher humidity helped limit fires Tuesday and extra firefighters had been called in early to staff five reserve fire engines.

``We had a lot of staffing,'' Hurd said. ``We were able to jump on the fires right away and put them out.''

In Palmdale, 76 people were cited on suspicion of possession or use of illegal fireworks, misdemeanors, and told to appear in court.

Lancaster sheriff's deputies cited 25 people and arrested two for misdemeanor fireworks possession or related infractions, such as drinking in public.

Lancaster deputies also arrested on felony offenses three people they came across while checking illegal fireworks displays, Kuper said.

One was a prison parolee who had stopped reporting to his parole officer; another was his girlfriend, who tried to help him run from the deputies; and a third was a person wanted on a grand-theft warrant, Kuper said.

A 15-year-old boy with a loaded pistol in his waistband was arrested after deputies followed the sparks from a Roman candle into a Palmdale neighborhood near 25th Street East and Avenue R. The teen, a reputed gang member, was with two other people, one of whom had been shooting the Roman candle, Bistline said.

In Palmdale, the 29-person anti-fireworks task force was funded by the city at a cost of more than $14,000. In Lancaster, 13 deputies and a sergeant were assigned to the fireworks patrol.

Palmdale sheriff's deputies said they confiscated enough fireworks to fill a van and a pickup truck. Lancaster deputies filled a pickup truck.

The confiscation included about 100 pounds of fireworks from a house near 26th Street East and Avenue R-12 where the homeowner admitted selling to neighbors, Bistline said.

Palmdale deputies targeted the area bounded by 20th Street East, 47th Street East, Avenue R and Avenue S. Last year, when they targeted Palmdale's west side, they made 65 arrests, Bistline said.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Illegal fireworks light up the sky, left, Tuesday night from the Tigertails neighborhood of west Palmdale. Below, sheriff's Sgt. Kyle Bistline, at Fire Station 129, looks over fireworks confiscated in Palmdale on Fourth of July.

(3 -- 4) Illegal fireworks go up, left, Tuesday night in several locations, as seen from the Desert View Highlands neighborhood of west Palmdale. Below are fireworks that were confiscated in Palmdale on the Fourth of July.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer