Concerns About Firework Safety After Fourth of July Mayhem

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

Fireworks injuries made major news this weekend, with at least five reported deaths and an NFL star injuring himself during Fourth of July festivities.

New York Giants Pro Bowler Jason Pierre-Paulinjured his hand Saturday night after his neighbors reported seeing him bring a van full of fireworks into his neighborhood to celebrate the Fourth.

ESPN reported that Pierre-Paul suffered burns on one hand, but there would be no permanent damage.

Elsewhere around the country, fireworks killed a man in Michigan, another man in Maine, two in Indiana and a child in Nashville.

But despite these high-profile accidents and tragedies, experts are divided over the question of whether fireworks have become any more dangerous.

“When you’re talking about fireworks, you’re talking about fire, you’re talking about devices that can cause burns and injuries,” said Kim Dulic, spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “So there is an inherent danger with the product.”

Put more bluntly by Ralph Apel, spokesperson for the National Council on Fireworks Safety:

“A lot of accidents happen because people have been drinking and then do something irrational.”

Here’s what we do know:

• In 2013, 11,400 people were injured in firework-related accidents, the most since 1994.
• Last year, there were 10,500 injuries.
• Before that, there hadn’t been a year with more than 10,000 reported fireworks injuries since 2005.

Firework injury rates actually decreased for many years but have slowly risen since 2008, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, which uses data from the International Trade Commission and the safety commission.

Injuries from fireworks might be increasing because many states have relaxed fireworks regulations in the last several years.

Since 2000, 13 states have legalized more types of fireworks. Most recently, Georgia legalized all firework usage for its residents. Eight states have passed less stringent firework laws since 2008, when injury rates began to creep back up.

Fireworks are currently illegal in just three states—Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

But it’s unclear whether the increase in injuries suggests something inherently more unsafe about fireworks, or whether the increase is simply because many more people can now legally use them—and incur the risk that comes with lighting fuses on things designed to blow up.

One thing most experts do agree on though, is that illegal fireworks are more dangerous than legal ones.

“There’s an increased danger with anyone who attempts to use a professional-grade or banned, illegal device,” Dulic said. “They present a greater danger.”

The safety commission limited the amount of explosive powder allowed in explosives in 1976 to 50 milligrams, about the size of a standard firecracker now. Illegal explosives contain much more than that.

“When I talk to kids, I say ‘Here’s an asprin. You could make three firecrackers out of this one aspirin,’” Apel said. “And then I take the bottle and pour all the aspirin out and say, ‘This is how much powder is in an M80.’”

At least some of the high-profile injuries reported over the weekend occurred in places where fireworks are illegal. Pierre-Paul, for example, was in Florida, where fireworks that explode or launch are banned.

While some mishaps have stemmed from illegal fireworks, others are just a misuse of perfectly legal options.

In Michigan, a man was trying to mimic a YouTube video he saw and stuck what he thought was an unlit mortar firework to his head and the mortar exploded, killing him.

Similarly, in Maine, a man who had been drinking tried to launch mortars from his head and died. He was the first death since Maine legalized fireworks.

Dulic said to avoid injuries, fireworks users should first avoid buying illegal or black market fireworks, which could be much more powerful than legal alternatives.

“Products sold out of the backs of cars, in a brown paper bags, are key indicators that those fireworks are not consumer-grade fireworks,” Dulic said.

She said fireworks users shouldn’t attempt to re-light fuses that don’t explode, should keep a bucket of water or a hose nearby and should keep a safe distance after a fuse is lit.

“We just need to continue to work hard on our education program about safety,” Apel said. “You have to try to get people to think before they act.”