The FDNY busted a Brooklyn business owner for running an illegal fireworks operation out of a Flatbush warehouse this week, confiscating illegal fireworks worth about $250,000 just before Independence Day, officials said.
Lisen Pan, who runs Everbright Trading Co., was arrested Tuesday for allegedly selling fireworks labeled as “Morning Glory,” “Tomahawk,” “Roman Candles,” “Something Special,” “49 Shots,” “Brooklyn Fireworks,” “Short Circuit” and “Tec-9,” according to a Brooklyn District Attorneys Office criminal complaint.
The FDNY investigated the Brooklyn business after being tipped off to illegal fireworks by another law enforcement agency. Stefano Giovannini
The business owner was arrested and charged in Brooklyn. Stefano GiovanniniFDNY investigators began looking into the warehouse after Suffolk County cops alerted them that they arrested a man who told them he bought illegal fireworks at the business, officials said.
“There were many different styles — products that could cause fires here in New York City due to our tightly cramped nature,” FDNY Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said. “They land on roofs sometimes and they cause fires over the Fourth of July season.”
More than 1,000 boxes of fireworks were hauled away in a FDNY hazmat unit truck to be destroyed at the NYPD firing range in Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx, Flynn said.
Pan, of Queens, was charged with weapons possession, reckless endangerment and unlawful sale of fireworks, authorities said.
The fireworks had inventive names like “Something Special.” Stefano Giovannini
FDNY investators made repeated visits to the business and saw that it was selling explosives. Stefano Giovannini
The fireworks were taken to the NYPD’s firing range in Rodman’s Neck and destroyed. Stefano Giovannini“Fireworks are dangerous and life-threatening, and they have no place in the hands of the public,” said FDNY Commissioner Tucker.
The investigation was a collaboration between the FDNY and Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, officials said.
“This multi-agency effort led to the removal of a large quantity of illegal and hazardous fireworks,” Tucker said. “Let me be clear: individual actions that endanger the public will not be tolerated.”
