Ritzy Bay Area neighborhood is in uproar as residents claim they're being hit with 'BOMBS': 'It's like being in war'

A ritzy neighborhood in the Bay Area has descended into chaos as residents claim they are being targeted by firework bombs and feel like they are in a war.

Jenifer Ehreth, 78, is so fed up after two months of destruction and sleepless nights that she has started a petition against the nightly explosions near her usually peaceful street in Richmond, San Francisco.

Ehreth said DailyMail.com: 'They're big fireworks, the kind that cities put on. These aren't just little. They go way up in the air, and they land all over the place, like over my building'.

She described the explosives as heavy 'bombs' that are big enough to fill the palm of her hand and cause buildings to shake.

'One of the fireworks hit a pylon in front of my building and it's kind of leaning. That's how strong they are,' she said.

'It's like being in war,' she added, raising concerns about the 'very big fire hazard' the fireworks pose when embers fall on and around the apartment complex.

Ehreth said her attempts at contacting the police have proven pointless.

'You'd have to wait 20 minutes for someone [on the phone], and they'd be polite and say they've gotten many calls about it,' she explained.

She claimed she was told by one operator to contact the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department where a representative allegedly told her that they could not afford to send anyone out.

Ehreth said the fireworks have been set off periodically through the night since July 4th, leaving her exhausted.

'They start at any time, it can be eight o'clock in the evening, it can start at two in the morning, sometimes they go clear until it starts getting light.'

Neighbors in her building shared similar frustrations and she said some even had to resort to tranquilizers to calm their dogs during the fireworks.

After her efforts to stop the nightly displays, she went to a Richmond District police department community meeting armed with photos and an unexploded firework in her hand.

'I brought photos and the bomb [I found in the sand] and tried to give it to the police chief. They had me go to the back and leave it with them,' she said.

Ehreth said she discovered other residents had similar concerns after stumbling upon social media platform Nextdoor.

After getting in touch with members who had shared their own experiences with the fireworks, Ehreth was convinced to set up a petition on Change.org .

Ehreth's petition will be presented at the next Richmond District police department meeting on September 24 at the senior center on Fulton, where she hopes it will persuade her local law enforcement to act. She had collected 94 signatures of a 100 target as of earlier this week.

She added: 'By the time that meeting's on, I will have that petition in hand. Definitely.'

The Richmond District supervisor, Connie Chan, told Ocean Beach Homeowners Association President Natasha Coral: 'We have been working tirelessly to communicate these issues to the relevant departments, and the Government Audit & Oversight Committee will be holding a public hearing on this matter.'

The City and County of San Francisco released a full report about the issue in May earlier this year detailing damage, pollution, and injuries.

It found that 15 percent of illegal fireworks were set off at or into a person or crowd of people.

It added: 'Another consistent comment was that since the issue does not generate large volumes of complaints throughout the year, and only becomes overwhelming around July 4th, taking further action about fireworks is not prioritized.'

The same report claimed the reasoning for the continuation of illegal fireworks in the area was due to limited resources, difficulty dealing with explosives, lack of coordinated communication, and no official metric tracking.

Reports of the fireworks across the Mission District were made last year with little success in resolving the issue.

The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco has been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.

Neighborhoods in the Outer Sunset area of San Francisco have also been affected.

The fourth district's supervisor Joel Engardio said: 'I have asked SFPD to help with enforcing laws against fireworks, because I hear from parents and dog downers who have difficulty with the noise,' SFGate reported.

DailyMail.com has contacted the San Francisco police department for comment.

The usually quiet area of the Richmond District is situated in the northwest corner of the city, among the parks. The area is bordered by Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park and the Pacific Ocean, and is home to nearly 60,000 residents.

The median home listing price in the Richmond District is $1,799,000 according to Kenneth Borgman an advisor for Realty Hop .