Increased drone surveillance of illegal July 4th fireworks led to $100K fine
Increased drone surveillance of illegal July 4th fireworks led to $100K fine
无人机监控非法燃放“独立日”烟花导致 10 万美元罚款
More cities and towns deployed drones to spot illegal fireworks during the Fourth of July celebrations commemorating America’s 250th anniversary—leading to a $100,000 fine in one instance and coming as part of a broader national trend of first responders turning to drone surveillance. 在纪念美国建国 250 周年的“独立日”庆祝活动期间，越来越多的城镇部署了无人机来监测非法燃放烟花的行为。其中一起案例导致了 10 万美元的罚款，这也反映出全美范围内急救人员正日益依赖无人机监控的趋势。
Police and fire departments have described using both increased drone surveillance and steep fines to deter people from shooting off illegal fireworks, with many departments publicizing their drone videos on social media and warning that their drones will be watching in the future. 警方和消防部门表示，他们正通过加强无人机监控和实施高额罚款来震慑非法燃放烟花的行为。许多部门还在社交媒体上发布无人机拍摄的视频，并警告称未来将继续利用无人机进行监视。
Incidents involving illegal fireworks have led to costly fires, injuries, and even multiple deaths each year, along with creating local air and noise pollution for residential neighborhoods. 每年，涉及非法烟花的事故都会导致代价高昂的火灾、人员受伤甚至多人死亡，同时还会给居民区带来空气和噪音污染。
This year, the $100,000 fine for illegal fireworks came from the Sacramento Fire Department in Northern California deploying its own drones for the first time on the Fourth of July, according to CBS News Sacramento. 据 CBS 萨克拉门托新闻报道，今年北加州萨克拉门托消防局首次在“独立日”部署无人机，并开出了一张 10 万美元的非法燃放烟花罚单。
Sacramento Fire Captain Justin Sylvia described the fire department’s drones as being capable of recording scenes in high-resolution video to help investigators identify the house or closest location using Google Maps. 萨克拉门托消防队长贾斯汀·西尔维亚（Justin Sylvia）介绍称，消防局的无人机能够录制高清视频，帮助调查人员利用谷歌地图锁定涉事房屋或具体位置。
Such drone capabilities allowed the fire department to count the fireworks being fired from a gathering near a home in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento, according to the TV news station KCRA 3. 据 KCRA 3 电视台报道，凭借这种无人机功能，消防部门得以清点萨克拉门托 Del Paso Heights 社区一处住宅附近聚会中燃放的烟花数量。
The drone also showed a U-Haul trailer containing fireworks catching fire at one point, although the people at the gathering managed to put it out. The resulting $100,000 fine came from counting the number of fireworks and possibly other factors. 无人机还拍到了一辆装有烟花的 U-Haul 拖车一度起火，尽管聚会人员随后将其扑灭。最终 10 万美元的罚款是根据烟花数量以及其他可能的因素综合计算得出的。
Sacramento County assigns fines for illegal fireworks starting at $1,000 per device and as high as $10,000 per device used near sensitive areas such as schools or parks. But felony criminal charges punishable by imprisonment are also possible if illegal fireworks cause a fire that leads to property damage or bodily injury. 萨克拉门托县对非法烟花的罚款标准为每枚 1000 美元起，若在学校或公园等敏感区域附近燃放，每枚罚款最高可达 1 万美元。如果非法烟花引发火灾并导致财产损失或人身伤害，还可能面临可判处监禁的重罪指控。
The Sacramento Fire Department issued 70 citations on July 4, totaling $300,000 in fines. But the department was also looking to assign additional citations on July 2 and July 3. Sylvia told KCRA 3 that the department had previously issued a $1 million fine to a single individual in 2025. 萨克拉门托消防局在 7 月 4 日当天开出了 70 张罚单，罚款总额达 30 万美元。该部门还计划对 7 月 2 日和 3 日的违规行为追加罚单。西尔维亚告诉 KCRA 3，该部门曾在 2025 年向一名个人开出过 100 万美元的罚单。
In Central California, the Salinas Fire Department posted a promotional sizzle reel to Instagram featuring drone footage of various illegal fireworks activities and warning that it expected to issue nearly 100 citations from the Fourth of July weekend. 在加州中部，萨利纳斯消防局在 Instagram 上发布了一段宣传短片，展示了无人机拍摄的各种非法燃放烟花的画面，并警告称预计将在“独立日”周末开出近 100 张罚单。
The department first began training a dozen of its firefighters to become certified drone pilots in 2022, Monterey County Now reported. The trend of first responders deploying drones has accelerated significantly since 2025, when the US Federal Aviation Administration reworked its regulations to enable faster approvals of waivers enabling police and fire departments to fly drones beyond the operator’s visual line of sight. 据《蒙特雷县新闻》报道，该部门于 2022 年开始培训十几名消防员成为持证无人机飞行员。自 2025 年美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）修订法规，加快批准警方和消防部门进行超视距（BVLOS）无人机飞行豁免以来，急救人员部署无人机的趋势显著加速。
Several police departments in Southern California also deployed drone teams for the first time in 2026 to identify the locations of illegal fireworks activity. The Anaheim Police Department used drones to help issue 40 citations and confiscate 2,500 pounds of illegal fireworks, according to The Orange County Register. 南加州的几个警察局也在 2026 年首次部署了无人机小组，以定位非法燃放烟花的地点。据《橙县纪事报》报道，阿纳海姆警察局利用无人机协助开出了 40 张罚单，并没收了 2500 磅非法烟花。
The newspaper also confirmed that the Santa Ana Police Department deployed drones for the first time this year. The drones assisted the department in issuing 107 citations—though the citations were issued to property owners at addresses where illegal fireworks activity took place rather than to specific perpetrators. 该报还证实，圣安娜警察局今年首次部署了无人机。无人机协助该局开出了 107 张罚单——不过这些罚单是开给非法燃放烟花地点的业主，而非具体的肇事者。
The Santa Ana Police Department further claimed that its drone operators assisted in the seizure of nearly 1,300 pounds of illegal fireworks in a promotional reel posted to social media, which played the “Bad Boys” music of the American TV show Cops as the soundtrack. 圣安娜警察局在社交媒体发布的宣传片中进一步声称，其无人机操作员协助查获了近 1300 磅非法烟花，视频配乐选用了美国电视节目《警察》（Cops）的主题曲《Bad Boys》。
Meanwhile, the La Habra Police Department posted a less flashy video to Facebook showing a drone video of a person lighting a firework in the middle of a residential street. It described its drone unit as helping with the issuance of “numerous citations” and leading to arrests in some cases for fireworks violations. 与此同时，拉哈布拉警察局在 Facebook 上发布了一段相对低调的视频，展示了无人机拍摄的一名男子在居民区街道中间点燃烟花的画面。该局称其无人机小组协助开出了“大量罚单”，并在某些烟花违规案件中促成了逮捕行动。
The Riverside Police Department has attributed its increase in citations for illegal fireworks to having deployed drones starting in 2025, according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper also listed other California cities such as Downey, Artesia, Brea, San Bernardino, Stanton, Chino, Hemet, and San Jose as deploying drones over the Fourth of July holiday. 据《洛杉矶时报》报道，河滨警察局将其非法烟花罚单数量的增加归功于自 2025 年起部署的无人机。该报还列举了唐尼、阿蒂西亚、布雷亚、圣贝纳迪诺、斯坦顿、奇诺、赫米特和圣何塞等其他在“独立日”假期部署无人机的加州城市。
California cities may be the most aggressive in using drones to hunt down illegal fireworks so far, but there are examples elsewhere. This year, the Lewisville Police Department in Texas shared footage with CBS News of its drone responding to 19 fireworks incidents on July 4, and reported several instances in which people firing off fireworks decided to stop and clear out once the drone arrived. 加州的城市目前在利用无人机打击非法烟花方面或许最为激进，但其他地区也有类似案例。今年，德克萨斯州刘易斯维尔警察局与 CBS 新闻分享了其无人机在 7 月 4 日处理 19 起烟花事件的画面，并报告称有几起案例中，燃放者在无人机抵达后便决定停止并撤离。
Washington state’s Renton Police Department also posted drone video from this past Fourth of July weekend and has deployed drones for the past three years to spot people setting off illegal fireworks in the suburb of Seattle, according to MyNorthwest. 据 MyNorthwest 报道，华盛顿州伦顿警察局也发布了上个“独立日”周末的无人机视频，该局在过去三年里一直部署无人机，以监测西雅图郊区非法燃放烟花的人员。
This all fits a broader trend of “drone as first responder” programs growing across the United States, as tech companies pitch law enforcement on drones equipped with a variety of surveillance capabilities. 这一切都符合美国各地“无人机作为第一响应者”项目不断增长的广泛趋势，科技公司正向执法部门推销配备各种监控功能的无人机。
More than 1,800 police departments and sheriff’s offices have operated drones in the United States, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance database. Such drones “should require clear policies around retention, audits, and use, including when the cameras shouldn’t be recording,” according to Beryl Lipton, a senior investigative researcher at the EFF. 根据电子前沿基金会（EFF）的“监控地图集”数据库，美国已有超过 1800 个警察局和治安官办公室投入使用无人机。EFF 高级调查研究员贝丽尔·利普顿（Beryl Lipton）表示，此类无人机“应制定关于数据保留、审计和使用的明确政策，包括明确何时不应进行录像”。