1 Injury, Few Fires on Noisy Fourth

After the bursts and blasts were gone and the blanket of haze had lifted from the sky over Ventura County, law enforcement officers Sunday reported one of the safest Independence Day weekends in memory.

While officials received hundreds of complaints about noisy fireworks, only one person was reported injured and three small fires ignited as a result of illegal fireworks.

Even a Sunday afternoon collision between a train and a car in Moorpark caused no injuries.

With California Highway Patrol units deployed for maximum enforcement, officials arrested 22 suspected drunk drivers from 6 a.m. Saturday to Sunday afternoon.

“It was one of the safest Fourths I’ve ever seen,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Ken Warren, a 24-year veteran. “Today everything is mellow. People are just waking up with hangovers.”

The injury occurred Saturday about 3 p.m., when Robert Longbine, 28, was taken by relatives to a local hospital after an illegal M-60 explosive blew up in his right hand.

About the size of a thick cigar, the powerful fireworks are usually thrown into the air or placed under cans before letting off a loud blast.

Longbine, a Ventura resident, lit one and tried to toss it into the air at a friend’s house in the 5400 block of Aurora Drive in Ventura, said city Fire Department Battalion Chief Brian Gordon.

Longbine’s hand was cocked back when the M-60 went off. He received severe lacerations and second-degree burns on each finger of his right hand and burns on his right shoulder, Gordon said.

At 7 p.m., county firefighters were called to a small blaze at a Point Mugu vista point off Pacific Coast Highway. A Sheriff’s Department helicopter dropped water on the grass fire and quickly extinguished it, county fire spokesman Charles Carranza said. Officials believe the fire was caused by fireworks.

Shortly after 10 p.m., two small fires started in separate areas of Ventura, city fire officials said. No one was hurt in the fires.

The first broke out on the wood shingle roof of a two-story home in the 4600 block of Rice Court. Neighbors using a garden hose controlled the blaze before firefighters arrived.

It was reported by Max Krimmer, 9, of Ojai, who watched fireworks fly through the air and land on the roof. The boy went to investigate, saw the flames and called 911, Gordon said.

Damage to the home was estimated at $500.

Minutes later, firefighters arrived at a barranca fire at Camino Real Park. Officials believe it was ignited after someone set off firecrackers inside a ravine. Firefighters doused the blaze before it spread.

Warren attributed the low incident rate to stepped-up law enforcement throughout the county.

In the Silver Strand area alone, 40 sheriff’s deputies patrolled in cars, on foot, on bicycles and on horses. On a normal Saturday night, two deputies patrol that area.

“The show of force usually keeps people in line,” he said.

Also, nearly every city had an elaborate public fireworks display, which Warren believed kept some people from setting off their own.

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California Highway Patrol Sgt. Bob Dickie said southbound Highway 101 traffic was light on Sunday afternoon. But he expected that to change by nightfall, when legions of campers and beach-goers begin their customary crush back to the Los Angeles area.

An incident that usually would prove fatal destroyed only a car on the railroad crossing at Hitch Boulevard in Moorpark.

At about 3:15 p.m., a two-car crash pushed one of the vehicles onto the tracks. The driver jumped to safety just as a train rammed his car, CHP officials said.

As the weekend came to an end, a pontoon boat carrying two families from the Los Angeles area struck a dock at Lake Casitas, sending a man and a boy to an area hospital for minor injuries.

“He was trying to pull into a picnic area when one of the kids distracted him,” Bill Wadlington, a ranger at Lake Casitas, said of the skipper.