SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Dozens of fires were sparked throughout the Bay Area due to fireworks late Monday and early Tuesday.
In San Francisco, the fire department responded to 827 total calls in a 24-hour period when the agency usually averages 450 calls per day, according to Lt. Jonathan Baxter, the department’s public information officer.
These included:
- 247 fire calls
- 67 outside fires
- 68 odor of smoke
- 82 wildland fires
- 2 investigations of smoke calls
- 2 structure fire responses
- 16 miscellaneous calls
- 1 cliff rescue
- 1 Bay rescue
- 263 medical calls
- 29 behavioral emergency calls
- 49 alarms (medical and building)
Further, two people were injured from fireworks: one when it exploded in their hand, and another when it exploded in their face.
One of those fires was at Twin Peaks, a popular location for viewing fireworks. The two acre wildland fire was contained by 7 p.m. but produced copious smoke.
The police didn’t have an easy time of it either. The department alleges a hostile crowd threw fireworks at them when they tried to respond to a fire at 24th and Harrison streets.