18 Years Ago. Today. The primary focus of the state and most local police and fire agencies was illegal bottle rockets and firecrackers. The use of illegal bottle rockets and firecrackers are dwarfed by the heavy importation and use of aerial shells rivaling or surpassing those used at most public fireworks displays. It was just a local entrepreneurial crook who would go into a neighborhood and sell illegal fireworks out of the trunk of his car.