Many communities celebrate Independence Day with barbecues, parades and of course, fireworks. But unfortunately each year thousands of people are injured due to unsafe handling of fireworks. While most of those injuries happen when amateurs use professional-grade, illegal or homemade fireworks or explosives, around 1,200 injuries are directly caused by small fireworks and sparklers. We’d prefer that you have a fun, healthy and safe Independence Day. Of course, in our opinion, the best and safest way to enjoy fireworks is to lay out a blanket, slather on some bug spray, and watch a professional show. But we also know that fireworks are a lot of fun, so we’re sharing these 10 guidelines for safely handling them:
- Wear protective eyewear while using fireworks.
- Don’t allow young children to handle fireworks, and older children should only use them with adult supervision.
- Never use fireworks while impaired by drugs or alcohol.
- Never hold lighted fireworks in your hands.
- Don’t light them indoors or inside of containers.
- Always use fireworks away from other people, houses, and flammable materials.
- Never point or throw fireworks at another person.
- Keep a bucket of water nearby to extinguish fireworks that don’t go off or in case a fire starts.
- Do not try to re-light or handle fireworks that don’t go off properly.
- Be careful not to aim fireworks into other structures, vehicles, grassy areas or wooded places. If an unintended fire starts, call 911 immediately. Fireworks start an average of 18,500 fires each year, and we definitely don’t need more fires this summer!
Of course, if you should get a mild burn or injury while using fireworks, we can take care of you at one of our convenient care locations.
Source: https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/tools-resources/seasonal-safety/summer/fireworks
