COEUR d’ALENE — Neighbors upset with illegal fireworks going off next to their bedroom window on the Fourth of July might just have to wait it out rather than report the violation to police.

It’s not that Coeur d’Alene blue doesn’t care; it’ll just be too busy to do anything about it.

“It’s very difficult on the Fourth,” said Christie Wood, police spokeswoman, on enforcing noise complaints in otherwise quiet neighborhoods. “Most of the force is concentrated on the downtown area.”

And that concentration is devoted to more serious offenses that seem to accompany the Fourth.

Rockets’ red glare to police can mean something else.

Fighting, alcohol violations, reports of drunken driving and domestic disputes take up most of the police department’s time come Independence Day.

“We’ve told several of the blockwatch groups that we’re sorry, but we just can’t get to firework calls on the Fourth,” Wood said.

Safe and sane fireworks are legal in the city from June 25 to July 5.

The high flying ones sold on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation aren’t, though. You don’t even have to light them to be in violation, either: Possessing them is citation-worthy — a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

If they see violators in the act, they’ll be cited, Wood said.

Last year, Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies didn’t cite any violators. City police cited three people for shooting off illegal fireworks on the Fourth. Between June 25 and July 5, police received 80 fireworks complaints. In the same time frame, police took in 2,000 other calls.