Legal Fireworks Allowed In These Riverside County Cities

CALIFORNIA, CA — Sometimes the best fireworks shows are front-yard ones shared with family and friends, and hundreds of cities across California will allow fireworks this year, including four in Riverside County.

Nearly 300 California cities still allow residents to set off “safe and sane fireworks” in 2024 despite the fire risk amid blistering summer temperatures.

In many cities, people are encouraged to buy the safe and sane fireworks as the sales are the primary fundraisers for school and community sports teams, choirs, and youth clubs. But in sweltering summertime California, a single stray spark can trigger a massive wildfire.

The National Fire Protection Association recently reported that fireworks start an average of 18,500 fires per year.

Starting this week , 254 California communities are allowing authorized vendors to sell fireworks authorized by the State Fire Marshal, known colloquially as “safe and sane fireworks.”

Approved retailers will sell the fireworks from June 28 until July 6, though some cities may limit that to shorter time windows.

“Safe and sane” fireworks are usually benign sparklers, but generally they are more defined by what they’re not than what they are. They are any type that the Fire Marshal does not categorize as “dangerous,” and all display an official Fire Marshal seal of approval. To be ruled “safe and sane,” fireworks:

• Cannot explode or fly into the air
• Cannot contain arsenic sulfide, chlorates, magnesium, and many other chemicals.
• Cannot be larger than 10 inches in length or a quarter-inch in diameter.

Illegal fireworks include skyrockets, bottle rockets, aerial missiles and spinners, Roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers and more.

Across California, penalties for selling, possessing or transporting illegal fireworks that do not carry the official seal can be as high as $50,000 and include up to a year in jail, according to Daniel Berlant, Cal Fire’s Deputy Director of Community Wildlife Preparedness and Mitigation. Many California cities are slapping several thousand-dollar misdemeanor citations to anyone possessing even state-approved fireworks.

However, several cities allow sales of safe and sane fireworks. Here are the cities in Riverside County where you can buy and set off fireworks:

• Blythe
• Desert Hot Springs
• Coachella
• Indio

Most of California’s major cities ban fireworks, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, all of San Diego County, and San Jose.

While many more California cities ban all fireworks, there are still several that permit them, particularly in rural areas. See here for the latest list of cities that sell them.

Patch Staffer Michale Wittner contributed to this report.