A teen was reportedly struck by an illegal bottle rocket in the 200 block of Northwoods Avenue in Manteca at about 10:30 Sunday night as other revelers kept police officers and deputies chasing down calls of illegal fireworks throughout Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon.
Witnesses said the injured youth had run from the scene telling Manteca Police officers they had unsuccessfully attempted to locate him.
Neighborhoods were sounding like battlefields with everything from endless packs of fire crackers to the colorful bottle rockets exploding throughout the night with lighted embers floating above nearby roofs carried by a light breeze.
Ripon, Lathrop and Manteca fire departments all had their share of grass fire calls. A field behind a home and a back fence were on fire and live wires were reportedly down on the ground at Apache and Navajo avenues in Raymus Village just north of Manteca
A resident in the 900 block of Fourth Street in Ripon called police about 9 p.m. to say a frightened dog had jumped into her car and she couldn’t get it out.
A structure fire was reported near the intersection of French Camp Road and Airport Way and another vegetation fire occurred on Warfield Road, A back yard fire was reported in the 2000 block of Junction Drive in Manteca with another calling out sheriff’s deputies and rural firefighters to Bramblewood and South Wheatfield where a bonfire had reportedly been set in the center of the roadway.
Another rural fire call dispatched firefighters to the scene of a grass fire that had been started by fireworks and extinguished by the suspect. The caller noted that after the group put out the fire they were back out in the field shooting off more bottle rockets.
As late as 11:30 Sunday night reports of bottle rockets being fired into the air were coming from a neighborhood in the southernmost part of central Ripon. A short time later the French Camp Fire Department was called out to a fire at an apartment complex for a trash can fire. The Ripon Fire Department had an earlier call for a vegetation fire on Lone Tree Road north of the city.
Witnesses said the injured youth had run from the scene telling Manteca Police officers they had unsuccessfully attempted to locate him.
Neighborhoods were sounding like battlefields with everything from endless packs of fire crackers to the colorful bottle rockets exploding throughout the night with lighted embers floating above nearby roofs carried by a light breeze.
Ripon, Lathrop and Manteca fire departments all had their share of grass fire calls. A field behind a home and a back fence were on fire and live wires were reportedly down on the ground at Apache and Navajo avenues in Raymus Village just north of Manteca
A resident in the 900 block of Fourth Street in Ripon called police about 9 p.m. to say a frightened dog had jumped into her car and she couldn’t get it out.
A structure fire was reported near the intersection of French Camp Road and Airport Way and another vegetation fire occurred on Warfield Road, A back yard fire was reported in the 2000 block of Junction Drive in Manteca with another calling out sheriff’s deputies and rural firefighters to Bramblewood and South Wheatfield where a bonfire had reportedly been set in the center of the roadway.
Another rural fire call dispatched firefighters to the scene of a grass fire that had been started by fireworks and extinguished by the suspect. The caller noted that after the group put out the fire they were back out in the field shooting off more bottle rockets.
As late as 11:30 Sunday night reports of bottle rockets being fired into the air were coming from a neighborhood in the southernmost part of central Ripon. A short time later the French Camp Fire Department was called out to a fire at an apartment complex for a trash can fire. The Ripon Fire Department had an earlier call for a vegetation fire on Lone Tree Road north of the city.
