This year on the Fourth of July, firefighters responded to fewer fireworks calls than in previous years, but collected many more illegal fireworks than in the past, according to a report before the city council this week.

The Renton Regional Fire Authority responded to 75 calls this year, down from an average of 130 calls in previous years. In 2015, they responded to 141 calls, for example.

“It was quite a decrease,” Deputy Fire Chief Erik Wallgren told the council.

But despite going to fewer calls, Wallgren said the department collected a lot more fireworks and devices than in previous years.

“We filled up our storage space we use to contain these,” he said.

According to a handout, the storage container is 5 feet by 3 feet by 2.5 feet. The volume of this year’s fireworks approximately double what was collected last year.

“By 10 o’clock our storage locker was full,” Fire Marshall Anjela St. John said.

Also this year, in a change from 2015, the Benson Hill and North Renton neighborhoods saw “much more activity” than in previous years, according to Wallgren.

“In fact, between the hours of 9:30 and 11 p.m. it was tough to keep up with the call volume,” he said.

In another change form previous years, a total of zero citations were given this year because of a lack of police personnel to pair with firefighters and fire inspectors. In 2015, 12 citations totaling $2,460 in fines were written.

Wallgren and St. John also said this year it was more difficult to catch people using fireworks, though they could be heard throughout the neighborhoods. Wallgren said he was out on patrol in an unmarked car, but residents shooting off fireworks would be gone by the time he got to where the noise was coming from.

“You could hear the fireworks around the block from where I was sitting in my vehicle and by the time I drove around the corner they had already disappeared,” he said. “This year it was so difficult to try and locate the house and the sound.”

St. John said people using fireworks would see them coming or simply be shooting them off from their backyard, making it difficult for the fire department.

“We don’t have the right to go on to their private property and confront them over the use of fireworks,” St. John said.

She added that of the people who were contacted by the department, most knew fireworks were illegal within Renton city limits, but said others were doing it anyway, raising questions of equity in enforcement.

“As soon as we get to one house, everyone (else on the block using fireworks) runs in their house and hides,” she said.

Of the 75 calls to which the department responded, only 45 contacts were made.

This year, the department also responded to one fireworks-related fire at a duplex that left two families displaced.

Several councilmembers said their neighborhoods were very busy with fireworks until late into the night. Councilwoman Ruth Perez said she lives near Benson Hill and she heard a lot of fireworks this year and when checking social media, she said residents were “irate” and posted about calling the police department and getting no response, resulting in “a lot of frustration.”

Councilman Ed Prince said that those who live near Fairwood, an unincorporated area of King County where fireworks are still legal, were treated to a “show for hours” that lasted until 2:30 a.m.

St. John called the Fairwood area “completely overwhelming” this year, reiterating that as they would stop at one house other residents would scatter and wait for them to leave.

Fireworks have been illegal in Renton since 2005 since voters overwhelmingly approved the ban.

St. John also said this year, there were several instances where the noises were not fireworks, but M-80s and homemade explosives, which are illegal not only in Renton but statewide.

“A lot of what we were hearing were not fireworks,” she said.

Later, during audience comments, a North Renton resident said it was not only M-80s and explosives, but “drunk people shooting guns in the air.”

Wallgren said the department would further evaluate their strategy for enforcement, including where to position patrols since this year the hottest spots were Benson and North Renton, which were relatively quiet in 2015. Last year, the Highlands received the most calls.

“We honestly did the best we could,” St. John said. “We just could not keep up with the call volume.”