Douglas County sheriff opens hotline for illegal fireworks reports
Douglas County told residents to call 303-814-7118 only for illegal fireworks they can see, as Stage 2 fire restrictions covered unincorporated areas.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has opened a temporary fireworks hotline, 303-814-7118, to funnel holiday complaints into a system deputies can actually act on. Residents are being told to use it only for illegal fireworks they can see in use, and to give the exact address or specific location where the shells or rockets are going off.
The hotline is scheduled for July 3 through July 5, with office posts listing nightly coverage from 6 p.m. to midnight and a related holiday reminder giving active hours from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. The county’s message is narrow by design: report violations that can be verified in real time, not every burst of noise that could otherwise swamp emergency dispatchers on one of the busiest nights of the year.
That enforcement push comes as Douglas County is already living under heightened fire restrictions. The county’s fire-restrictions page updated July 2 said Stage 2 fire restrictions were in place in unincorporated Douglas County, including Larkspur and Castle Pines. In its July 4 safety reminder, the sheriff’s office also said personal fireworks are not allowed under county restrictions, and that any fireworks that leave the ground or explode are illegal statewide in Colorado.
Colorado state guidance draws the line the same way. Permissible fireworks are non-explosive and do not leave the ground, while firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, aerials, mortars and missiles are prohibited. The sheriff’s office said its holiday alert followed a review of local environmental data, including weather patterns and dangerously low fuel moisture levels, making the crackdown part of a broader effort to reduce wildfire risk before a spark becomes a fast-moving fire.
The county also warned against street celebrations. Blocking a roadway can create safety hazards and keep emergency vehicles from getting through, a concern that becomes sharper when deputies and firefighters may already be moving across the county on fireworks calls. Fireworks are not just a nuisance issue, the office said; they can spark wildfires, injure people, and create stress for pets and veterans.
Outside the hotline window, residents are being directed to Douglas Regional 9-1-1’s non-emergency line, not 9-1-1, unless there is an actual fire or medical emergency.
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