Staying away from illegal fireworks and keeping a few common-sense rules in mind for the at-home display can help families avoid a trip to the emergency room this holiday weekend, Lynchburg’s fire marshal said.
“We have very few incidents where people are using legal fireworks that some kind of injury has occurred or some kind of incident has occurred such as a fire,” Fire Marshal Greg Wormser said. “Usually, if there’s a problem it’s because somebody is using something they shouldn’t have been using.”
The Virginia Department of Fire Programs advises that the best way to avoid injury or fire is to leave the work to trained professionals.
If you can’t help yourself, though, Wormser offered a few suggestions to stay safe.
• Fireworks that leave the ground in any way are illegal in Virginia. Cones, sparklers and fountains commonly seen in stores and in parking lot tent stands are OK. Bottle rockets, Roman candles and the like are not.
• Follow manufacturer’s guidelines on the firework’s packaging. Manufacturers are required to include instructions on how to set up the fireworks and how to set them off. Generally, children younger than 18 shouldn’t handle them.
• Keep a water hose or a bucket of water ready to go.
• Keep fireworks a safe distance of 20 feet away from combustible items, vehicles, structures and people and pets.
• If a firework seems to be a dud, keep it at a safe distance and leave it alone until morning. Then, dunk it in a bucket of water or otherwise douse it thoroughly with water. Wormser said the most common injuries are with people who hold onto a firework when they shouldn’t, or from folks who pick up what they thought was a dud, only to have it go off in their faces.
• Use a punk instead of a lighter. Punks are slow-burning sticks available at most fireworks stores and stands. Frequently lighters can cause burns, he said.
• Stick a sparkler in the ground instead of holding onto it. Because they can be hard to light, it’s easy to get burned, he said. Children also can be burned easily by mistakenly holding the sparkler too high on the stick.
• Keep live fireworks away from the display area.
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