In 1997, the police seized about 24,800 cases of fireworks, compared with 3,600 in 1998 and 1,800 last year.
The police have made 11 arrests for selling illegal fireworks this year and seized 1,663 cases of fireworks, valued at more than $3 million, said the fire commissioner, Thomas Von Essen.
Suffolk county police officers said they arrested Arthur Schlie, 48, on Saturday evening on charges of unlawfully dealing with fireworks and other charges after they searched his home and seized more than 200 cases of fireworks with a street value of $100,000.
Never use any type of fireworks indoors.
Also, have a bucket of water nearby so kids can put their sparklers in or just in case of a firework gone bad.
In 1997, the Fire and Police Departments seized more than 27,000 cases of illegal fireworks; so far this year they have seized only 758 cases.
The police have seized 1,442 cases of illegal fireworks and arrested 299 people so far this summer as part of a citywide crackdown, the authorities said yesterday.
"I describe him as a box of fireworks," added Case.
In the case of a computer-generated fireworks sequence towards the end of The Muppets film, it allowed the visual effects team to perfect the explosions and see the results nearly instantaneously afterwards.
