Officials respond to fires, drunk drivers, over holiday weekend

BARSTOW — Officials arrested a several drunken drivers and responded to one structure fire sparked by illegal fireworks over the holiday weekend.

The Barstow-area California Highway Patrol made a total of 12 arrests for driving under the influence between Thursday and Sunday, Officer Taj Johnson said. Two of those were during a checkpoint set up by CHP and the Barstow Police Department on Main Street and Muriel Drive between 7 p.m. Saturday night and 3 a.m. Sunday morning.

The CHP also handed out five citations to people talking on cell phones without a hands-free device while driving during the weekend, Johnson said. The new law requiring hands-free devices went into effect July 1.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department did not set up any DUI checkpoints in the Barstow area over the weekend. Sgt. Tim Lotspeich reported a relatively calm holiday period for the Barstow sheriff’s station, with the exception of one structure fire sparked by illegal fireworks.

Francis Sweetwater IV, 20, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of causing a structure fire and on an outstanding warrant for spousal abuse. Sweetwater was celebrating Independence Day with his family at his mother’s house on the 29000 block of Cochise Avenue when he lit a Roman candle in the yard, which caught the garage on fire at about 7:20 p.m., Lotspeich said.

Barstow Fire Protection District Chief Darrell Jauss estimated that the fire caused $10,000 in damages to the structure and contents of the building. The fire took three fire engines and a water tender about 20 minutes to extinguish.

The city-sponsored firework show at Robert A. Sessions Memorial Sportspark on Friday drew a record crowd of more than 4,000 people but suffered from some technical difficulties when about 20 cans of fireworks failed to ignite, city spokesman John Rader said.

Rader said the cost of those fireworks will be deducted from the approximately $30,000 the city owes to fireworks provider PyroSpectacular.

Aside from the technical glitches, he called the event a success.

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