Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Pasadena, Regional Agencies Seize 10,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks Ahead of Fourth of July

By EDDIE RIVERA

Illegal fireworks seized from a Whittier Boulevard storefront in Los Angeles. Pasadena officials estimated the street value at more than $120,000. [City of Pasadena]

Four arrested as investigators tie cache to a criminal street gang smuggling operation

Pasadena police and fire investigators, working with regional agencies, seized approximately 10,000 pounds of illegal explosive fireworks from a storefront on Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles on Friday, June 19, and arrested four people in what officials called the largest illegal fireworks seizure ever recorded in the Pasadena area.

The cache — which investigators say was tied to a criminal street gang that smuggled the fireworks from Nevada — was intended for distribution across Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley cities and was intercepted just over two weeks before the Fourth of July, the Pasadena Police Department said.

Officials estimated the street value of the seized fireworks at more than $120,000.

Along with the fireworks, investigators recovered improvised explosive devices (IEDs), an unregistered firearm with high-capacity magazines, a large quantity of marijuana products, and documentation indicating the sale of illegal fireworks.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad was called in to remove the improvised devices and other hazardous materials.

The search warrant, served at 6316 Whittier Blvd., capped an extensive investigation by the Pasadena Police Department’s Street Crime Unit and the Pasadena Fire Department’s Arson Investigation Team, Police Chief Gene Harris said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

The premises appeared to operate as a marijuana dispensary.

“The volatility just makes it more dangerous,” said a Pasadena police officer with the Street Crime Unit, explaining why the improvised explosives demanded a separate level of response. “The types of materials, the amounts. That’s why we had to call in the bomb squad.”

“The volume of fireworks and chemicals present could have posed a serious threat to an entire block,” said Alejandro Loeza, a Pasadena Police Department official.

Authorities said they had not ruled out additional arrests as the investigation continues.

“We believe at least some of the contacts would involve Pasadena,” Harris said, “but there’s no doubt that these probably would have spread far and wide throughout the county.”

The single seizure dwarfs Pasadena’s recent citywide totals. Fireworks confiscated across the city amounted to roughly 19 pounds in 2022, 118 pounds in 2023, 48 pounds in 2024 and 128 pounds in 2025.

Regionally, the Verdugo Fire Investigation Task Force had already seized 25,000 pounds of illegal fireworks in 2026 through mid-June, before the Pasadena-led operation.

Fire Chief Chad Augustin called the timing critical, coming just over two weeks before the holiday in a community still recovering from disaster.

“We are still only 17 months post the devastating Eaton Fire,” Augustin said. “Let’s make sure that an evening of fun and carelessness does not lead to another significant fire, injury, or even worse, death.”

Mayor Victor Gordo credited the coordination among city departments and outside agencies for intercepting the fireworks before they reached neighborhood streets.

“It should comfort us all when our police department and fire department partner with outside agencies to get ahead of the issue,” Gordo said, “not wait for fireworks to start going off.”

All fireworks are illegal in Pasadena, including those marketed as “safe and sane.” Under California’s Health and Safety Code, possession of more than 5,000 pounds of dangerous fireworks without a license is a felony — a threshold the roughly 10,000-pound cache far exceeds — punishable by fines of $10,000 to $50,000 and up to a year in county jail. The maximum penalty under Pasadena’s ordinance is a $50,000 fine and up to three years in state prison.

Ahead of the holiday, the Pasadena Fire Department planned to complete 4,611 hazardous vegetation inspections before July 4, and the city has mounted a bilingual public-awareness campaign, in English and Spanish, on the dangers of illegal fireworks.

Four people were arrested in connection with the seizure. The investigation remains ongoing, and officials said additional arrests are possible.