They're Fourth of July traditions… Baseball…. The beach…. And fireworks injuries. Between nine and twelve thousand Americans are seen in the emergency room each year for fireworks related injuries. Nearly half of these are seen in kids 14 and younger, and most of the injuries occur on the Fourth of July weekend.
Sure, it's fun to shoot them off. But you're literally playing with fire, especially if you're buying ones you shouldn't be shooting off at all. If anyone should know, it's Phil Grucci, executive vice-president of Grucci Fireworks, which does some of the biggest fireworks shows in America.
"The states that don't have fireworks legalized in those states those people choose if they have to get the products they get them some how and generally they'll go out and buy the larger fireworks illegally as contraband and those are the ones because they are not being handled by professionals they are being handled by the consumers are the ones that cause injury. Because they're not used right." says Grucci.
Grucci believes the fireworks designed for the consumer are safe, if supervised by a responsible adult. "Light the fuse and get away don't light the fuse and put your face on top of the small device. Follow the directions and use your common sense."
But Dr. Young-Jin Sue of Montefiore Medical Center says, perhaps it's best not to use any fireworks at all. She says the injuries can be tragic. "Amputations can occur, the more serious injuries, deep lacerations, in rare instances there has been death caused by injury to the head, people looking over a bottle rocket."
In fact, more than 50 percent of all fireworks-related eye injuries occur around the Fourth of July holiday, almost half of those injured are bystanders, and nearly 400 patients lose vision in one or both eyes because of their injuries. The big problem for eye injuries is bottle rockets! They account for seventy percent of eye injuries and most happen at home. "These bottle rockets don't exactly fly the way you expect them to." remarks Dr. Sue.
If you are destined to fire them off anyway, perhaps the most important thing to remember is to supervise the kids. Unsupervised children are 11 times more likely to be injured.
Also, get away as quickly as you can once the fuse is lit. Don't inspect it to make sure it's lit. People bend over and the fireworks go off, or a bottle rocket goes in someone's face. And do not experiment and try to make a bigger one from the powder of several fireworks. It could lead to a huge explosion. But when in doubt, leave the fireworks up to the experts. They're show is a better one anyway. Have a happy…and healthy Fourth of July!
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