Friday, July 11, 2008 at 11:50 AM For Immediate Release Jennifer Hanson 916-651-4016
Florez blasts Governor for dousing charitable fundraising
Senator questions whether proclamation on legal fireworks was based on sound data
SACRAMENTO – Senator Dean Florez, D-Shafter, today blasted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for dousing charitable fundraising efforts this Fourth of July without any reliable proof that designated “safe and sane” fireworks start fires.
In the week leading up to this year’s Fourth of July celebrations, Schwarzenegger repeatedly admonished the public to forgo purchasing fireworks, including those deemed “safe and sane” by the state, which many non-profit organizations rely on selling each year for a major portion of their funding.
These groups include the DART river rescue program in Sacramento County, which is associated with the Elk Grove Fire Department and the state’s Office of Emergency Services, agencies which certainly would not promote unsafe fire activities.
In a letter to the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Chief Ruben Grijalva, Florez asked whether the Governor had consulted with agency experts on the supposed threat presented by safe and sane fireworks prior to his proclamation, and whether in fact the statistics support the Governor’s action.
Florez has asked Grijalva to provide his office with specific data on the number of fires caused by safe and sane fireworks, saying, “I hope that this holiday and tradition is not spoiled due to a policy decision not based on accurate and specific data.”
Florez notes that, while the Governor stated that fireworks cause hundreds of fires and millions of dollars in damage each year, he failed to distinguish between illegal fireworks – which often launch off the ground, igniting wood roofs, dried brush and the like – and safe and sane, which do not leave the ground.
Fireworks in general were responsible for only a fraction of one percent of all fires in California each of the last five years, and agency data which is publicly available does not indicate if even one of those fires was caused by legal fireworks.
