Nassau and Suffolk police enforce fireworks laws sparingly, data shows

Keith Kelskey is no fan of the illegal fireworks set off each year in his Deer Park neighborhood.

"I have neighbors that shoot them off and I don’t appreciate it," Kelskey said while shopping this week at Walt Whitman Shops in South Huntington.

"I have a golden retriever that totally freaks out and shakes," he added. "It’s a puppy so it’s very bad."

Kelskey is not alone.

Every summer, including this one, Long Island elected leaders and law enforcement agencies say they have "zero tolerance" toward personal fireworks usage and pledge to prosecute anyone setting them off, whether in the street or public parks.

"We are cracking down on illegal fireworks," Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine warned last week. "There’s a reason that they’re illegal ... They pose a danger to people who don’t know how to use them."

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman reiterated that sentiment Wednesday, adding "if we catch you with illegal fireworks, we will arrest you."
 

But the two counties' seemingly hard-line approach has produced mixed results.

Many complaints, few arrests

In fact, data shows the laws concerning personal fireworks usage are enforced sparingly across the region — with arrests and prosecutions representing just a small fraction of the total number of complaints the Nassau and Suffolk police departments receive annually from virtually every corner of the region during the July Fourth holiday.

For example, Suffolk County made two fireworks-related arrests in both 2022 and 2023; three in 2024; and three so far in 2025, police department officials said.

They include the arrest last year of a Smithtown man charged with possession of fireworks, although the top counts centered on a cache of illegal weapons and ammunition he allegedly kept in his home.

New York State law stipulates the use of fireworks by anyone other than a certified pyrotechnic is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

Nassau County police have been more aggressive in their approach, making 32 arrests for illegal fireworks in 2022, officials said. That number was 42 in 2023, 34 last year and seven to date in 2025, including Wednesday's arrest of a New Hyde Park gas station employee charged with selling illegal fireworks.

Last year's arrests included a Levittown man charged with supplying an 11-year-old with a firework that malfunctioned, causing extensive damage to two homes.

But the arrest numbers pale in comparison to the more than 1,800 complaints Nassau police have received annually since 2022 regarding illegal fireworks.

Suffolk police said fireworks complaints cannot be tallied as they come in as a disturbance, a code used for various calls such as a barking dog or an illegally parked vehicle.

Law enforcement officials concede they're in a difficult position enforcing fireworks laws.

First, they must determine who is responsible — a challenge when the activity is apparently embraced by friends and neighbors — while offenders will often disperse when cops arrive on the scene.

Meanwhile, possession of fireworks is a relatively minor but time-consuming charge — confiscated fireworks need to be vouchered by a police officer in person — which takes cops off patrol on one of the busiest nights of the year, officials said.

"There'll be large volumes of calls for fireworks this week," Nassau First Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Smith said. "That being said, we'll be following our protocols when it comes to assigning calls based on circumstances. For instance, a car accident is going to take precedent over a firecracker on the corner."

'Why would I call the police?'

During a chaotic Fourth of July on Long Island last year, the police said, four people, including an 8-year-old girl, were injured in Port Jefferson Station when an illegal firework went astray. In Copiague, a man severed three fingers on his left hand and damaged the other two fingers in a fireworks accident, according to the police.

In 2023, there were 149 fireworks-related injury visits reported by emergency departments in New York State, with 112 occurring between June 18 and July 18, according to the state Department of Health. Roughly 30% of those visits involved patients 18 years old or under.

Nationwide, there were 11 reported fireworks-related deaths last year, most involving their misuse, misfire or malfunction, and an estimated 14,700 people injured, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. That's a 38% increase in fatalities and a 52% hike in injuries from one year earlier, the agency said.

Burns were the most common injury, making up more than a third of all emergency room visits, while hands and fingers were the most frequently injured body parts, the commission said. 

An estimated 1,700 ER visits alone in 2024 involved sparklers.

Fireworks sparked an estimated 32,000 fires across the country in 2023, causing more than $142 million in direct property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Some Long Islanders, meanwhile, are divided on personal fireworks — and how law enforcement should handle their usage.

"We had an incident where a kid blew off two of his fingers," said Vincent Aquilino, a former chief at the Atlantic Steamer Fire Company in Oyster Bay. "People always ask me to get them  and I won’t buy them. I’m totally against fireworks."

Stacy Salti, of Commack, doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

"I find them enjoyable. They’re beautiful," Salti said. "I think once or twice a year, it’s not horrible ... I think everyone enjoys them for what they are."

Paulette Davy, of Bay Shore, prefers to keep her distance from fireworks, calling them "dangerous."

But despite her concerns, Davy is reluctant to get law enforcement involved in what has become an annual, albeit potentially dangerous, tradition in many Long Island communities.

"It’s the Fourth of July," Davy said. "Why would I call the police?"