Mayor Ballard expected to extend fireworks ban

The boom of fireworks this year hit a little too close to home for Dillie Peck.

"Rockets were going and oh my gosh, I just got so afraid and got upset," said Dillie Peck. "I really got angry."

Angry that people in her neighborhood we ignoring the city's mandatory fire ban. She said she was also worried what one ember from those fireworks might do to her yard, and her house during the drought.

"So I called the police," said Peck.

Peck was not the only person who called the cops. According to IMPD, officers were dispatched to 127 firework-related calls.

"The majority of people honored the ban," said Marc Lotter, Mayor Ballard's Director of Communication. "It is not a step anybody wanted to take, but we are very thankful that they did abide by it."

After hanging up the phone with police, Peck enlisted the help of a higher power.

"So I went on and started praying, asking the Lord to protect it and protect these houses from the dryness and so forth," said Peck.

Peck woke up to find debris from the fireworks all over her yard, her driveway and even stuck in her plants. Peck said she had been burned before. In 1998, her roof caught fire in early July, investigators determined the the cause was fireworks.

"That is the only thing it could have been from, the rockets," said Peck. "The debris that you see around the house and on the roof, this house could have been burned up."

Peck said she wants to get a meeting with Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard to get personal fireworks, inside city limits, banned for good.

"If they want to see them, go downtown and see them," said Peck.

Marc Lotter said Mayor Ballard is expected to extend the city's ban on personal fireworks on Friday, July 6.