PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – As Portland fire officials continue to urge residents to respect the fireworks ban ahead of Fourth of July weekend, another fire sparked from an illegal firework on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in the Hazelwood Neighborhood of East Portland just before 1 p.m. Crews arrived at the scene and quickly put it out, though several overhead powerlines were in danger during the fire.

“Had the fire severed the line, a live electrical wire would have been dropped in the middle of the fire scene posing increased dangers to the responding and working firefighters on scene,” officials said.

A home was also impacted by the fire, though it did not see much damage and the family will not be displaced, according to officials.

Witnesses at the scene later told firefighters that a group of kids in the area had been lighting fireworks before the fire started.

In 2022 the Portland City Council unanimously passed a ban on the use and sale of personal fireworks. This year officials are rolling out a new online form where people can report illegal fireworks use without overloading 911 with calls. The hope is with this reporting tool officials can see where the problem areas are and create public information efforts, and quick enforcement, in the future.

“Are we going to find hotspots of usage? Will we have a better chance at being able to possibly increase our capabilities in the future to go to those hotspots and actually enforce day of,” Rick Graves with Portland Fire & Rescue said.

This year Portland Police Chief Bob Day is instructing officers who see people using illegal, personal fireworks to seize them and issue citations.

The ban came following the deadly fire at the Heidi Manor apartments on July 4, 2021. A firework left in a trash can sparked the fire that killed three people and destroyed the apartment complex. Robert Gremillion is reflecting on that fire that killed his son. Ahead of this Independence Day he is asking people to obey that law.

“Do you want to be a good citizen? You want to be a good neighbor, and you want everybody to have fun,” he said. “But, you know, sometimes it’s hard to keep in mind that it can take a moment to change somebody’s life, for the better or for the worse.”

Gremillion said people need to consider how they can affect someone’s life.

“Not even my son and his friends who passed away, but all the other people in that apartment building that ended up becoming homeless,” he said.

Enforcement is a challenge when the rules change from city to city. Fire officials said they want to have similar stances on fireworks as surrounding communities. They are hoping the new online tool could help.

“Even if you’re not in the city of Portland you are free, and we encourage you, to utilize the form to report usage, because perhaps that data accumulation will be enough of a catalyst in those communities where fireworks are permitted to change the position,” Graves said.