38K pounds of illegal fireworks seized at South LA warehouse

Hundreds of pounds of fireworks seized in South LA

The fireworks were safely offloaded to be properly disposed.

LOS ANGELES - Two men were arrested after authorities seized 38,000 pounds of illegal fireworks from a warehouse in South Los Angeles.

LAPD's Bomb Squad spent hours removing the large cache of fireworks from the warehouse located at E. 61st Street near S. Central Avenue Wednesday night.

The fireworks, which were described by authorities as "commercial grade," were offloaded to several other trucks and moved from the area for safe disposal by CalFire.

Two years ago also in a South Los Angeles neighborhood, a botched detonation of illegal fireworks while being removed by the LAPD resulted in an explosion that injured several people and damaged buildings and vehicles.

38,000 lbs. of illegal fireworks off streets

About 38,000 pounds of illegal fireworks were taken off the South Los Angeles streets. As police confiscated the fireworks, they were immediately reminded of the horrific messup in 2021 that displaced families in the area.

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Lorenzo Ponce, 64, and Diego Ponce, 35, both of Los Angeles were arrested by police who interviewed several people inside the building. Police said both were booked on suspicion of "possession of illegal fireworks over 5,000 pounds."

Anyone with information on the case was urged to call LAPD Major Crimes Division Detective Allen at 213-486-7220, or the police tipline at 877- LAPD-247. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 800- 222-TIPS or use the website www.lacrimestoppers.org.

City News Service contributed to this report.

South Los Angeles Crime and Public Safety