YORK, Pa. — In 2020, The City of York saw 13 fireworks related fires during the 4th of July weekend.
"We were completely overwhelmed with the amount of calls and things of that nature. So we're going to try and do as best we can this year," said Fire Chief William H. Sleeger Jr, from the City of York.
They say they'll be having extra patrols on the lookout for those who break the law.
The City of Harrisburg saw about 8 fireworks related fires.
"When I'm on the street interacting with the community on a near daily basis, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest concern that I hear from them is the use of fireworks within city limits," said Fire Chief Brian Enterline, from The City of Harrisburg.
In The City of York and Harrisburg, you cannot discharge fireworks anywhere within 150 feet of a structure.
"That prohibits you from firing off fireworks within the city limits because you can't get passed the 150 feet," said Chief Sleeger.
"There's very few places within those boundaries that you can legally set fireworks according to the state law," said Chief Enterline.
But the Chief of Staff for The City of York says enforcing those rules is not easy.
"Because police officers have to catch the person actually in the act to be able to enforce anything," said Collin Holder, the Chief of Staff for The City of York.
That's why they're encouraging people to submit a firework complaint.
They also want to stress that fireworks are not worth endangering someone's life.
"You don't want the burden of knowing that you were responsible for setting someone's house on fire and worst yet, injuring or killing a citizen or a firefighter that's battling that blaze," said Chief Enterline.