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The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office collected 648 pounds of fireworks during three firework buyback events in hopes of reducing the amount of firework calls on the Fourth of July.
“It takes a lot of coordination to run a firework buyback event. We’ve had our community partners come out here: Redwood City fire, Redwood City Police Department, Menlo Park Police. And every member of the executive team, the Sheriff, the deputy sheriff, the chief of staff, all came out here,” said Director of Communications Gretchen Spiker at a buyback event.
The department paid members of the public $6,000 for the fireworks and dished out $11,500 in overtime to officers. In total, the program cost approximately $19,171, all of which was paid by Measure K, a .5% sales tax.
In Redwood City, calls about fireworks on the Fourth of July were 30% higher than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
However, according to data given to this news organization in response to a public records request, the sheriff’s office saw an almost 50% reduction compared to pre-COVID calls, from 102 to 57 in 2024.
That reduction could be due to a variety of factors, including increased warnings regarding illegal fireworks due to the risk of fires.
The sheriff’s office declined to provide logs of citations issued regarding fireworks so it is unclear if deputies enforced San Mateo County’s complete firework ban in unincorporated areas.
The program started after a pilot buyback event in 2023 led to a reduction in firework calls on the fourth, according to the sheriff’s office.
“This is really Sheriff Christina Corpus’ vision, having us come out here and work with all the community stakeholders,” said Captain Mathew Fox.
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