Page 12 - Mid Valley Times 7-11-19 E-edition

Thursday, July 11, 2019 | A12 | Mid Valley TiMes
Citations, fires and dogs running scared keep Dinuba police, fire busy
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
Though the calls kept pouring in for illegal fireworks within the city of Dinuba, only nine citations were handed out on Fourth of July for vio- lations. That number, though, added up to $13,500 in fines, as each citation carried with it a $1,500 fine, one of the largest fines in the area.
“Our call load was heavy this year,” said Dinuba Fire Battalion Chief Sean Doyle. “We stayed busy all night.”
According to Doyle, the lower number of citations (there were 15 citations in 2018 and 19 in 2017) may
FIREWORKS Continued from page A1
that would eventually launch nearly 500 shells that lit up night sky over Dinuba.
The mortars come in vari- ous sizes and materials, with the smallest mortars made up paper, heavy duty cardboard or a plastic known as HDPE (High Density Polyethylene).
Ortiz explained, “The rea- son they are made that way is, if we were to use regular ABS pipe and something were to happen, like the shell were to explode inside the tube, all that (the ABS pipe) would turn into shrapnel.”
He went on to explain that HDPE doesn’t do that. It heats up under explosive conditions but warps with the energy released instead of breaking apart.
“It’s a safety issue,” Ortiz added.
Each row of mortars were designated with a letter and a number, starting with the let- ter ‘A’ and ending with the letter ‘H’, the last row. Those rows, however, did not include the grand finale section. That section alone contained at least five rows of its own.
Prior to Ortiz and his team dropping any shells in the myriad of mortars, the setup had to first be approved by the local fire inspector. Inspect- ing this year’s fireworks set up was Dinuba Fire Battalion Chief Sean Doyle and Dinuba Fire Inspector Jose Lopez.
have been attributed to not being able to catch violators in the act.
“We would respond to the calls where they were happening and we’d drive by and wouldn’t see anything,” shared Doyle. “As soon as we would leave we would see them going off behind us.”
Three teams, made up of fire and police personnel, were on heavy pa- trol on Thursday. Some city person- nel were even on foot patrol attempt- ing to find people setting off illegal fireworks.
“We will evaluate and see if need to change our tactics next year,” add- ed Doyle.
In addition to the many calls of
illegal fireworks, 20 of which came in on the evening of Fourth of July, the Dinuba Fire Department also stayed busy responding to several fires throughout the city.
The fire department responded to three fires, a grass fire in the area of Avenue 420 and Road 92, a dump- ster fire in the 1600 block of South Greene Avenue and a grass fire in the 1000 block of Euclid Avenue.
Doyle said all three fires are be- lieved to have been started by ille- gal fireworks or the improper use of fireworks.
Fires and fireworks were not the only concern during the Fourth of July festivities. Doyle said they
also responded to the 1000 block of Northridge Avenue for a report of a dog that was frightened by the fire- works and became stuck in a rod iron fence while trying to escape.
Dinuba resident Chris Launer said he heard the dog crying dur- ing the evening hours on Thursday and believes the dog may have been stuck between the two rods for over an hour.
The dog, whose name is Butters, was freed thanks to fire personnel using the ‘Jaws of Life’ to separate the fence.
Butters wasn’t the only frightened dog that made a run for it on July 4. There were numerous calls for ani-
mal control during the holiday and, according to Dinuba Animal Control Officer Sam Hara, the department picked up 11 dogs during the Fourth of July weekend. There were at least another 12 calls from residents who reported their dogs missing.
Those may be conservative num- bers as social media sites were inun- dated with posts of missing or found dogs following July 4.
“This is by far our busiest time of the year,” said Hara. “We get a lot of calls of dogs running around frightened or reported missing. We tell people to keep their dogs inside during the holiday. But every year we have a lot of calls.”
Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
ABOVE: Aerial fireworks exploded during the finale of the Dinuba Independence Day Celebration on July 3.
ABOVE RIGHT: Fireworks Show sperator Adrian Ortiz demonstrated the motherboard that fired the shells.
handle (like the ones used by Wiley Coyote). But on the other hand, there isn’t a laptop either, with a software pro- gram that allows you to just hit ‘enter’.
Instead, each strip is con- nected to a series of metal screws on a wooden box the size of a typical suitcase. The motherboards (two of which were used for Dinuba’s show) are each powered by two 12-volt batteries.
The detonation of each shell actually turns out to be an unexpected level of coor- dination on the part of Ortiz. As part of his job as the show operator, Ortiz listens to a prerecorded audio of the cel- ebration music. Via an MP3 player, Ortiz hears the music in sync with the music played over the loud speakers. On his end, though, a voice cue prompts him to detonate each numbered shell as the music progresses.
To detonate the shells, Or- tiz uses a simple metal prong with a wooden handle that wired to the power source (battery packs). One by one, like a fireworks DJ, Ortiz syn- chronizes each show.
He said his first show ever was in Sanger, a show that has continued over the years and took place again on Thursday. After last Wednesday’s show in Dinuba, Ortiz also served as the fireworks show opera- tor for the show in Clovis on July 4. He also did a show the Saturday prior.
But even though the Di- nuba Independence Day Cel- ebration ranks high on his list of show, there is still one that eludes him that he has his eyes set on. Ortiz said he hopes to someday do the show at Disneyland, something peo- ple in his business consider the highest achievement.
“I’ve been on the wait- ing list for five years,” Ortiz shared.
Fireworks America is part of the Disneyland circuit and Disneyland requires their own pyrotechnic credentials.
For now, Ortiz will wait and continue to do the thing he’s always been fascinated with, even when he feels like retiring.
“There are days when I feel like I want to retire, and then my kids ask if I’m do- ing fireworks again so they can come out and see them,” Oritz said. “So, I don’t want to let them down, so I keep do- ing it.”
REEDLEY Continued from page A5
throughout the city.
The police depart-
ment's dispatch center re- ceived 37 calls for service regarding fireworks dur- ing the day and late into the night. The 14 citations were the most issued on this date during any July 4 enforcement, and each code violation resulted in a $1,000 fine.
Three of the citations were issued during a stop in the area of 10th Street and Frankwood Avenue while two other citations were passed out in the 1400 block of E Street. Other citations were is- sued at Fisher and Palm avenues, the 800 block of Lingo, the intersection of 13th and D streets, the 800 block of East Early Ave- nue, the 1900 block of East Jefferson, the 1400 block of East Duff, the 700 block of Almond, the 400 block of East Carpenter, and the intersection of El Dorado and Haney avenues.
The department thanked the public for providing additional infor- mation during the 2019 en- forcement period. Anyone with information regard- ing illegal fireworks is asked to contact the Reed- ley Police Department at (559) 637-4250.
“We’re looking for how well they are secured,” said Lopez. “And we make sure that he has his credentials that tell us that he has the training.”
With the final approval from Lopez and Doyle, Or- tiz and his team brought out boxes and boxes of fireworks shells, with some as big as a
baseball while others looked more the size of a soccer ball. Once inside the mortars, the shells were then strung row by row to an electrical strip that is wired to a con- trol board. And, surprisingly, the motherboard is not what one might think. On one hand, there is no box with a plunge
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