They go by many names—Green Goblin, Sinister Shells, Nuclear Sunrise but if you are trying to get some peace and quiet around the Fourth of July illegal fireworks can make it tough.

Police in Kendall County say the complaints regarding illegal fireworks begin in June and last about a week after the holiday.

“The biggest problems we have are the people who get the professional-type fireworks and make those really load booms. Those are the ones we get the most complaints about,” Yorkville Police Chief Rich Hart says.

Hart and other area law enforcement agents remind residents that shooting off fireworks in Illinois is illegal and they will ticket individuals breaking the law.

“We take a pretty proactive approach,” he said. “If we see people shooting them off we are going to stop and deal with it and we’ll write them tickets.”

Yorkville has an adjudicative process for violating the city’s fireworks ordinance. Fines for shooting off illegal fireworks can range from about $250 to $750 depending on the municipality and the time of day.

Despite the warnings Hart says that every year people go to the state’s surrounding Illinois where fireworks are legal to buy them.

“The night of the fourth it’s going to be like a war zone in town and there’s no way that we can actively stop it but we will cite people as we catch them and then confiscate their fireworks,” Hart said. “Obviously they are dangerous and cause problems but every state around us has them legalized.”

Montgomery Police Chief Daniel Meyers says it's the same issue in his village.
"The number one problem is people are unaware of the dangers of fireworks," Meyers said. "Sparklers can reach 2000 degrees. That is hot enough to melt some metals."

Meyers recalls that they had a police officer hit accidentally by a bottle rocket a few years ago. Fortunately, he said the officer was not hurt but it damaged his uniform. Meyers adds that that is an example of the unpredictability of fireworks.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “We don’t believe it was intentional but you can’t control them once you light them either.”

Most towns in Kendall County will have official fireworks displays and there are a few legal fireworks like smoke pellets and smoke grenades, glow snakes, sparklers.

Cathy Nevara, public information officer for the Oswego Police Department, says the department encourages people to have fun but be safe and stay within the law.
"The main aim of the village's ordinance and the police department's enforcement is to make sure that people are safe because it's not worth someone losing an eye just to see a pretty sight that's why we leave that to the professionals."

Plano Police Chief Steve Eaves says his department takes about 70 calls for complaints about illegal fireworks on the Fourth of July. With the holiday being on a Sunday he says he expects even more calls than usual. He added that Plano would have extra patrols out on the night of the Fourth of July.

“We now have a very stringent ordinance and we’ll charge them to our ordinance process which is adjudication,” Eaves said. “It seems to be it’s kind of getting worse, it’s almost like a week prior. It used to be basically the third, the fourth and the fifth but it seems like it’s starting about a week ahead of time.”