Los Angeles Police Department officers found a large cache of fireworks inside a home in South Los Angeles early Wednesday morning, triggering a bomb squad response and temporary evacuations in the neighborhood. The discovery came shortly after 6 a.m. as officers served a search warrant and an arrest warrant at a residence in the 100 block of East 85th Street, just north of Manchester Avenue.
The warrant was tied to a domestic violence incident involving a firearm, but when officers entered the house they found fireworks in every room, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said. He described a scene in which police had to slow everything down and take every precaution before anything was moved. The evacuation zone covered 85th Street between Main Street and Towne Avenue and one block of 85th just east of Avalon Boulevard, and residents were later allowed back once authorities decided it was safe.
By Wednesday afternoon, officers were seen carrying boxes of fireworks from the home into box trucks. Three trucks were filled, and a fourth was arriving shortly after noon, officials said. The seized fireworks were estimated to be worth between $150,000 and $200,000. Deputy Chief Marc Reina said the material would be properly disposed of and noted that fireworks are illegal in Los Angeles.
The seizure comes with fresh memory of how dangerous fireworks can be in the city. In July 2024, Los Angeles agreed to pay more than $21 million to settle claims from residents of another South Los Angeles neighborhood after a June 30, 2021 explosion on East 27th Street. Police had found an estimated 32,000 pounds of illegal commercial and homemade fireworks and other explosive materials at that home. A federal report later said the LAPD bomb squad packed nearly 40 pounds of the most volatile material into an armored containment vessel rated for only 33 pounds, and the vessel exploded after it was supposed to be detonated safely at the scene.
That blast injured 10 law enforcement officers and seven residents, damaged 22 homes, 13 businesses and 37 cars and trucks, and displaced about 80 people. McDonnell said the latest seizure showed why police moved carefully. “You don't know what's in the house next door to you, and it could be something that is very, very dangerous,” he said. In this case, he said, investigators made sure the material was stable enough to move before hauling it away. The fireworks are now headed for disposal, but the city’s last major fireworks disaster still hangs over any discovery that large.
