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Home My WebLink About(0004) IR 20-10448 - 4th of July OperationsINFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 20-10448 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 4, 2020 Page 1 of 4 i r SUBJECT: CITY OF FORT WORTH FOURTH OF JULY OPERATIONS r�rA re�a The Fireworks Enforcement Detail was staffed daily from 1800 hrs. until 0200 hrs. from Thursday July 2nd thorough Sunday, July 5th. The fireworks detail is a collaborative compliance and enforcement effort coordinated by the Joint Emergency Operations Center and staffed by the following city departments and sections: o Fire Department Arson & Bomb Unit, Community Risk Reduction, Bureau of Fire Prevention, Fire Communications Office o Office of Emergency Management o Fort Worth Police Department o Medstar o John Peter Smith Hospital o Primary: To ensure Fire Operations and Fort Worth Police Department resources are available to respond to emergencies and high priority calls for service. Date Detail Scheduled Fire Operations Emergency Responses Thursday, July 2nd 1800-0200 123 Friday, July 3rd 1800-0200 118 Saturday, July 4th 1800-0200 152 Sunday, July Sth 1800-0200 79 Total 472 o Firework Hotline: A specific telephone "hotline" was dedicated to report fireworks. The intent of this dedicated phone line was to prevent the 9-1-1 system from being the primary contact method for the public which would have placed the 9-1-1 system at risk of call overload and increase risk of call delays for actual 9-1-1 emergencies. o Enforcement Objective: To support Fort Worth Police Department patrol elements in the confiscation of fireworks and the issuance of General Complaint Citations for violations of City Ordinance Section 3301.1.3 which prohibits the sale, use, and possession of fireworks within the city limits. o Fireworks patrol units responded citywide to calls for service and attempted to serve all areas and council districts equally; however, some locations were deemed unsafe to enter for fire personnel by the Fort Worth Police Department. Where life safety or significant property damage issues were reported, every attempt was made to intervene after a thorough risk analysis and inventory of available fire and police resources. Officer safety concerns negatively impacted enforcement efforts. This affected the number of citations issued and the number of fireworks confiscated. Two areas of concern were the 4900 block of Chapman and the 3200 block of Lee Ave. These areas were illegally blocked by residents for "block parties", which hampered emergency response capabilities to these neighborhoods. The block parties had crowds of 100+ people. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 20-10448 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 4, 2020 Page 2 of 4 i r SUBJECT: CITY OF FORT WORTH FOURTH OF JULY OPERATIONS r�rA re�a o Due to the overwhelming demand of calls a triage system was put in place to prioritize the enforcement response. The priority response of the teams were for the fires or injuries caused as a result of the use of fireworks. All other calls were determined to be lower priority. o Due to the number of calls we were unable to respond to all complaints. Fire did not have enough staff members to respond to all 5900 calls. Notable Activities of the Fireworks Patrol Detail: o Effected over 200 positive citizen contacts to inform and educate the public about the ordinance and associated dangers of fireworks. 0 2 citations for possession of illegal fireworks were issued. 0 52 pounds of fireworks were legally seized. o Participated in a joint operation with FWPD in the Como neighborhood. This joint operation has taken place for the last several years and resulted in confiscation of illegal fireworks. o Monitored and inspected for safety, five CFW-permitted professional fireworks shows, including investigator supervision of the city sponsored Fort Worth Fourth fireworks show. o On July 3rd, while patrolling in the Sendera Ranch neighborhood, we were advised of a missing child. Investigators assisted PD and neighbors' search for the missing child for about 30 minutes until the child was safely located. o On July 3rd, while patrolling in Southeast Fort Worth, an attempted positive citizen contact became a criminal incident when the group of eight young men were found to have illegal street drugs and illegal weapons in their vehicle. Case was referred by FWPD officers on scene to the PD Narcotics division. o On July 4th, Arson units responded to 7 medical incidents, involving burned patients from fireworks incidents. None of these incidents resulted in life -threatening injuries, but two of the patients were transported to Parkland Hospital in Dallas by MedStar due to the location of severity of the burns. o On July 4th, assisted a citizen who was trying to get her wheelchair -bound elderly mother from the house to the car parked in the driveway. The house was located in one of these illegal "block party" areas. The daughter stated every time she tried to open the front door to get her mother to the car, the people in the street would begin shooting fireworks at them. We utilized a five unit special response team (SRT) from PD to secure the scene well enough that we could get the lady to her car and off of the affected block. o Citizens Fire Academy members (volunteer organization) worked over 200 hours during the detail answering phones and responding to citizen complaints. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 20-10448 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 4, 2020 Page 3 of 4 i r + SUBJECT: CITY OF FORT WORTH FOURTH OF JULY OPERATIONS r rn rera Post holiday weekend comments: There has been considerable comments from the public related to the lack of a response to the calls that were made to the hotline. Calls by Council District: Council Member Jul 1 Jul 2 Jul 3 Jul 4 Jul 5 Jul 6 Grand total 2 -Carlos Flores 4 29 1&a 420 41 13 675 3 - Brian Byrd 39 136 359 50 15 605 4 - Cary Moon a 19 127 352 31 6 542 5 - Gyna Bivens 16 35 202 433 61 21 767 6-Jungus Jordan 4 52 276 nna 112 14 1.126 7- Dennis Shingleton 10 46 119 512 22 1 710 a - Kelly Allen Gray 14 75 246 483 90 14 922 9-Ann Zadeh 4 16 154 3n9 70 16 629 (Empty) - 1 2 10 2 1 16 Grand total 66 311 1,434 31605 479 101 5.992 ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 20-10448 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 4, 2020 Page 4 of 4 i r SUBJECT: CITY OF FORT WORTH FOURTH OF JULY OPERATIONS r�rA re�a Below is Enforcement Data for illegal fireworks activity during the 2020 July 41h Fireworks Detail. The five-day total for 2020: 5645 calls for service compared 2836 in 2019. Date: CAD Sheets created Incidents Dispatched: Phone Calls: 7f 212020 510 439 394 7f312020 471 380 449 7/412020 530 429 �"!� 7151202-0 399 334 449 TOTALS: 1909 M1 2145 Recommendations for Improvement • Continue to work with FWPD to develop a coordinated response plan to reduce illegal fireworks in high incident areas. A coordinated response was the most effective prevention and enforcement strategy used. There were still areas of high activity and high crowd tensions that rendered aggressive enforcement strategies ineffective due to crowd and officer safety concerns. • Collaborate with the Texas Department of Transportation for education and enforcement message displays on highway electronic information boards for vehicles traveling into the City from areas that sell fireworks. • Continue fireworks public education in the areas of fireworks injury prevention. • Explore methods to gain citizen and neighborhood association participation in reducing illegal fireworks use: cell phone video bank, neighborhood association fines for the use of illegal fireworks, early education at school and community show and tell events. • Collaborate with area fire and police departments to share education and enforcement action planning. • Review the goals and objectives of the Fireworks Detail and JEOC operations during pre -planning meetings with Fire and Police Executive Staffs. • Discussion on increasing enforcement. Increasing enforcement has challenges related to responding to the number of call and trying to de-escalate issues around confiscation and citations. If you have any questions concerning this information, please contact Fire Chief Jim Davis, at 817-392-6801 or jim.davis(a�fortworthtexas.gov. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS