A 48-year-old man faces a citation after police say a firework he set off Sunday evening broke apart a backyard fence in Pottsville and damaged the side of a house.
Pottsville police were called around 7 p.m. Sunday to the 1300 block of Mt. Hope Ave. for a report of an explosion that caused damage. The incident prompted 9-1-1 calls of a “house explosion” and brought many neighbors out of their homes to investigate the clatter.
At the scene, an officer found damage to the side of the home and to a wooden fence at the rear of the property, police say. The fence belongs to a 74-year-old Pottsville resident, police say.
The fire department was also at the scene, trying to determine what caused the explosion.
While canvassing the area, the officer found a spent firework, a Vampire Killer, near the damaged fence. Police say it looked as though the firework struck the fence and broke it into pieces, which then damaged the siding of the house. Pieces of the fence were found on the home’s back porch and throughout the yard.
A large group of people was having a party with a fire in a backyard in the 1300 block of Seneca St., off Davis Ave. People at the party told police they heard the loud bang and saw the firework go over their heads, possibly from the front of Seneca St.
Neighbors told police they heard people in that backyard talking about setting off fireworks, then heard the explosion, then heard people laughing. They told police they were certain the firework came from the Seneca St. party.
Another neighbor who heard the bang checked his Ring camera at the front of his home and gave police two videos of the firework being set off. Police say the video shows a person lighting a firework in the 1300 block of Davis Ave., about 50 feet from the rear of the yard where the party was being held. The firework goes off and a loud explosion follows.
The officer went back to the party to find out who set off the firework. John Herndon, 48, told police he did and said he would take responsibility for the damage he caused. Herndon and both property owners planned to settle the matter among themselves, police say.
Police told Herndon he will receive a citation for violating the city ordinance against setting off fireworks within city limits.
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