On Saturday July 6th, a "block party" was being held in the Valley, near Cooper Street Park. Roads were closed ahead of the event, and it appears Councilwoman Dayna Camacho was one of the party's hosts.

When roads are to be closed, it is common to announce it during a council meeting either under new business or communications like they do for the yearly Christ the Redeemer Parish Festival or the Memorial Day Parade. In fact, last October the Council approved Resolution 2023-213(1) when a homeowner on Roosevelt Avenue wanted to close the street for a Halloween party. Why didn't that happen this time? To the best of our knowledge, there was no mention of the request or a Resolution introduced and/or passed at any recent meeting.

An OPRA request for the street closure application was obtained. It shows that the application was submitted back in May by Councilwoman Camacho, and that the Mayor, Administrator, Police & Fire Chiefs, and Rescue Squad signed off on the road closure. Again, why was this not brought to Council for their approval?

A copy of the block party invite, obtained by Manville.Today, promotes: "there will be a fireworks show once it becomes dark." Aerial fireworks are illegal in the State of NJ. Unless proper permitting, bonding, and specific regulations are followed, you simply cannot have a "fireworks show". An article on NJ.com(2) mentions that the police said fireworks were not sanctioned for this event.

To know that a sitting Councilwoman not only was one of the block party's hosts, but also was promoting an illegal fireworks show in the invitation, is extremely concerning. There needs to be accountability in this matter.

An unfortunate incident occurred near the block party. An unknown person set off some sort of "improvised fireworks device". This "device" blew out several car windows and caused property damage. An innocent bystander was hit with debris from the device and had to be airlifted to a trauma center. We hope that this person recovers successfully from the injuries sustained.

News coverage was spotty over the weekend other than a news article on NJ.com (2) and coverage from CBS2 New York (3), but that changed on Monday with the announcement that Manville Police made two arrests.(4) We know this is an ongoing investigation and hope officials will continue to be transparent in sharing information with the public.

This whole turn of events has been extremely concerning. From the video shown on CBS2 of the explosion, this could have been much worse. What if there were children or more people in close vicinity to the device especially since reports indicate one of the suspects has a history of reckless behavior with explosive devices? The outcome may have been even more grim. We applaud the first responders and safety officials and hope the gentleman who was injured makes a full recovery.

1: Resolution 2023-213
2: Man, 34, hospitalized when homemade firework device burst during party at N.J. borough's park - nj.com
3: Video shows fireworks device detonated at N.J. block party, shrapnel sent flying - CBS New York (cbsnews.com)
4: Manville Police Department Press Release