Fireworks Light Up Police Switchboards

Local law enforcement agencies were deluged with calls Thursday night from people concerned and in some cases frightened by a series of flashing explosions in the skies above South County.

The source, it turned out, was a 20-minute fireworks display put on for a group of conventioneers at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point.

“They had them last year and they had them this year,” hotel general manager John Dravinski said of the display for a group called Retail Vision as part of a three-day national convention.

The Sheriff’s Department received nearly 100 calls from people as far away as Rancho Santa Margarita, whose moods ranged from curious to frightened.

“They were just concerned about the loud bangs and flashes of light,” spokesman Rich Paddock said.

And in Laguna Beach, about 25 people called 911 to report the strange aerial performance.

“Some of them sounded frightened,” said Linda Paul, a dispatcher with the Laguna Beach Police Department. “Some of them sounded out of breath, like they’d run in from outside.”

A sheriff’s spokesman said the fireworks were completely controlled and legal.

Last Sept. 7, the Sheriff’s Department received almost 200 phone calls after that fireworks show.