LAKEWOOD — The city of Jamestown isn’t the only local municipality dealing with illegal fireworks being set off.

Both Lakewood Mayor Randy Holcomb and Christopher DePonceau, chief of the Lakewood-Busti Police Department, said the fireworks seem to be more of an issue each year between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

“I noticed the city of Jamestown is having the exact same problem,” Holcomb said this week. “I’d say it’s primarily along the lakefronts; however, it’s all over the village. Sometimes it’s from private parties and people set them off a dozen at a time the same time each night. I can hear them.”

Earlier this month, Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson said extra patrols were going to be added in the city in an attempt to crack down on the illegal use of fireworks. Officers responded to 429 fireworks complaints in Jamestown last year — nearly a tripling of the complaints the department handled all of 2019 with 156 received. There were 105 complaints each in 2018 and 2017, and 67 in 2016.

By comparison, Lakewood-Busti police has received just five complaints since January, DePonceau said, though it’s likely the majority of illegal fireworks currently being set off within the village and town of Busti are not leading to a complaint with the police department. The chief does expect complaints to climb as the Fourth of July holiday approaches.

“They are a danger and (those setting them off) should respect their neighbors,” DePonceau said. “People are not allowed to have these types of fireworks.”

In Chautauqua County and across the state, only devices known as sparklers are permitted. These devices do not rise into the air, do not fire inserts or projectiles and do not explode or produce an audible crackling sound as do fireworks.

The village for the second year canceled its annual Independence Day fireworks show due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem with illegal fireworks, though, is nothing new to Lakewood. Last year, then-Police Chief John Bentley told the village board that a rental property owner had dropped off $2,500 worth of fireworks to the police department. The items were brought in by visitors from Ohio.

“Like I always tell everybody, leave the fireworks to the people who do it all the time, the people who are the experts,” Bentley told the board last year. “They are dangerous. It never fails, every year somebody gets a finger blown off or loses their hand or whatever, loses an eye. It never fails, somebody gets hurt. The emergency rooms get real busy as the Fourth of July comes closer.”

Holcomb said the issue of fireworks being set off — more so around the weekend — has been discussed on a Facebook page dedicated to the Lakewood and Busti area. He noted that complaints should be directed to police, who have the power to issue warnings and take action against those violating the law.

“I know people are frustrated, I myself am frustrated,” Holcomb said. “I have two dogs, and every Friday and Saturday I have to put them in the basement. … I wish they had respect for their neighbor and stop doing it. It’s nothing more than that.They’re not fun for everybody — people with health issues don’t want to hear it, and our pets are petrified.”