With the exception of “safe and sane” fireworks allowed in some counties and localities, it’s illegal in California to set off fireworks. Big shows sponsored by cities and put on by professional pyrotechnicians are allowed, but walking out into the street and lighting a bunch of roman candles or bottle rockets is not something people are supposed to do. Yet they do it anyway, and every year at new year’s and the Fourth of July, the valley looks and sounds like a war zone.
Here’s footage from last year, especially amusing as one idiot managed to start a grassfire just down the way:
And a short summary of this year’s chaos: