July Fourth came a little early for University Police Tuesday.

Police said someone made a hole in the wall in Lincoln Hall. The person then put a smoke bomb in the hole to create the appearance of a fire, said UP Sgt. Ralph Taylor.

“It’s the spring time of the year” and some students are restless, Taylor said.

all staff put out the fire with water, police said. But the fireworks show continued in neighboring Douglas Hall.

Someone lit a string of firecrackers under a smoke alarm of Douglas Hall’s D-3 floor, Taylor said.

Douglas Hall Director Linda Koschocreck said no alarms sounded in the hall, but the hall’s senior staff was alerted.

Fireworks pose problems in residence halls, said NIU Judicial Officer Larry Bolles. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “Those things make me kind of fearful.”

Bolles said he has seen everything from a student burning the inside of his room to a student suffering from partial hearing loss because of fireworks.

Fireworks are listed in the Student Judicial Code under “dangerous weapons.”

Some students bring trunks of fireworks, Bolles said. “They’re powerful. Students don’t buy the little ones anymore,” he said. “They can blow doors right off the hinges.”

In recent years, a bottle rocket exploded within inches of one student’s eyes during a bottle rocket fight in the hallway of a residence hall, he said.

A student lost part of his hearing in another incident when he was climbing the stairs and someone on another flight dropped a firecracker down the stairs, causing a “boom,” Bolles said.

Neither victim was playing with the fireworks.

Bolles said NIU cracks down on fireworks because they are illegal in Illinois and students do not know proper storage methods.

There is a $50 fine for using fireworks in the residence halls. Fines can rise through judicial office sanctions and criminal court lawsuits, he said.