LATHROP – By next week fireworks stands will start popping up in shopping centers around Lathrop.

And they’re going to give some of the most high-profile non-profit groups in the community – the Lathrop High School boosters, the Lathrop Rotary, the Lathrop Chamber of Commerce and the Lathrop Lions Club – the opportunity to raise more money in a single week than they could in several months of normal operation.

It’s exactly what the Lathrop City Council had in mind when they approved the sale of “safe and sane” fireworks three years ago. Fireworks will go on sale June 28.

But it will also mark the a week-long window when illegal fireworks will start flying through the night sky and exploding in city streets – something that Lathrop-Manteca Fire District Chief Gene Neely knows can turn a friendly celebration into a disastrous one with the simple light of a fuse.

“Lighting something that flies through the air and explodes next to a shake roof is a very bad idea,” Neely said. “You’re just asking to burn a neighbor’s house down. All it takes is something landing on a roof like that that hasn’t burnt out yet.”

While the district, which can issue citations for those they see lighting off illegal fireworks, steps up their enforcement when the July 4th holiday draws near, crews are often hamstrung by the inability to perform searches of residences and garages where people often stash the contraband.

There are just too many people, Neely said, and not enough of them.

Problems, however, don’t just stem from the illegal fireworks that are often brought in from out-of-state.

Those that are intended to be lit on the ground, Neely said, need to stay on the ground – not flung up in the air or placed on an elevated platform like a ladder because it gives a better show or allows for better viewing for the neighborhood.

The first year that fireworks were allowed, he said, somebody who used the elevated approach knocked it over into a stopped police cruiser and left burn marks on the top of the car.

Making sure that they’re lit in a safe location, away from dry vegetation or anything that can serve as an ignition source, is also advised.

And mixing alcohol and fireworks – no matter how safe they may be – is never, Neely said, a good idea.

“Almost all of it is common sense and sometimes that goes out the window when people have been drinking,” he said. “We encourage people to have a bucket of water nearby to make sure that they’re completely extinguished and to put anything out that may get out of hand. And we encourage everybody to soak the spent cardboard casings down with a hose before putting them in the garbage can because they can be a lot like fireplace ashes – there can be hotspots in the center that you might not be able to see.

“We want people to have a good time, but we want them to be safe when they do it.”

The fire district will also have a fireworks booth this year – in the Walgreen’s Parking lot at the corner of Lathrop and Harlan Roads – to raise money for the reserve program. Other booths will be located at Target (Lathrop High Boosters), Save Mart (Lathrop Rotary), Jack in the Box (Lathrop Chamber of Commerce) and Louise Avenue and 7th Street (Lathrop Lions Club.)