If you or curious teenagers are thinking about setting off your own fireworks, don’t! The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has alerted the public about the danger of consumer fireworks. According to this coordinator of the Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks, U.S. fire departments needed to squelch an annual average of 18,500 fires, which resulted from fireworks between 2009 and 2013.
These fires included:
- 1,300 structures
- 300 vehicles
- 16,900 outside and other locations
These emergencies killed two people every year. In 2015, two NFL players also lost their fingers in fireworks tragedies.
Devastating Fireworks Injuries
The NFPA also reports that fireworks were responsible for nearly half (47%) of the fires on July 4 in the United States. Most of these injuries occur without a fire starting. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than half of fireworks accidents each year injure the extremities including:
- Hand or finger (36%)
- Legs (14%)
- Arms (5%)
Most of the other injuries impacted the head (38%) including the eye (16% of total). According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2014 Fireworks Annual Report, fireworks were the source of approximately 10,500 injuries, requiring U.S. emergency department treatment in 2014:
- Fireworks injured 35% of people who were younger than the age of 15.
- Children between the ages of 5 and 9 needed extensive emergency treatment.
- Seventy-four percent of those with fireworks-related injuries were males, while 26 percent were females.
Fireworks Trapping People in House Fires and Injuring Children
In 2014, 11 non-occupational fireworks-related deaths also occurred in the United States. Several involved people who did not set off fireworks but were trapped in house fires, which the explosives caused. With the help of firefighters, you may escape harm but need to deal with widespread damage in your home after the fire including:
- Water
- Smoke
- Soot
- Odor damage
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