Residents Take to Online Posts to Complain About Illegal Fireworks

fireworks
Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini during a recent Open Mike Show.

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini during a recent Open Mike Show.

Several Haverhill residents have expressed online their frustration at hearing late night illegal fireworks in their neighborhoods Saturday and into early Sunday.

Facebook users told Mayor James J. Fiorentini and others Sunday the sound of illegal fireworks through the night sounded “awful” or “like a war zone,” and some questioned the lack of a police response to curb the fireworks activity.

“We enforce – will check to see if more can be done. You deserve quiet,” Fiorentini said in a response.

One Facebook user, identified as “Maria Elizabeth,” said fireworks noise bothers her autistic son with sensory issues. “Why don’t you have the police enforcing this? Sounded awful last night in my neighborhood too. All night long.” she told Fiorentini. In an online chat with another user, she added, “Not everyone wants to hear illegal fireworks. And they don’t clean up the leftover debris leaving city workers to clean it up. It’s not fair to the rest of us.”

Others, responding to a post about a fireworks accident in Dorchester Sunday which injured two young boys, called attention to fireworks being illegal and urge people to “stop doing them.”

“One of our dogs was so scared last night her entire body was trembling! All she wanted to do was hide. Called the Haverhill police and were told they would get there when they had time,” said Pam Leavitt Webster.

Emily Salvi added, “There were so many fireworks in our neighborhood all weekend that my kids haven’t slept nearly as much as they should. There was definitely no one enforcing the law here.”

“Summer St sounded like a war zone with the amount of fireworks going off,” said Astrid van Breda.

WHAV has requested comment from Haverhill Police Captain Robert P. Pistone, police spokesperson. However, he was not immediately available.

WHAV reported last Thursday police logs have listed a varying number of nighttime fireworks complaints in neighborhoods, including the Acre, which officers responded to since last Monday.

6 thoughts on “Residents Take to Online Posts to Complain About Illegal Fireworks

  1. If you Facebook or email the mayor and actually expect him to do something you’re fooling yourself. All he’ll do is give you lip service. He’s not even in Haverhill on the 4th…he’s in Seabrook. He could care less that people are inconvenienced.

      • Agreed!! I love how they didn’t post all my comments, just half of them. I was actually deleted and blocked by the mayor on his personal facebook, but I “liked” his page and thats where i made my comments. and I stand behind every one of my comments.

  2. Just start arresting and fining people aggressively, You won’t get everyone the first year but those who get fined will think twice about doing it the next year. I have had the issue every year to lesser and greater extents. Police would rather not look like the bad guy to otherwise law abiding citizens. They stop by the house and say “you have to stop, we are getting complaints” That does about as much good as asking a bank robber to put the money bak.

  3. I called the police last year and was told that it is almost impossible in a city this size to pinpoint where the fireworks are coming from, that so many neighborhoods have the problem that they would spend the whole night trying to crack down on this while other emergencies happen. That is totally valid, but it is super frustrating to have to be tortured with this stuff for weeks (it is never just the 4th)