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Fireworks: Hot Stuff?

Fireworks are hot stuff - but not the kind you want to get near.

Thousands of kids go to hospital emergency rooms with injuries from fireworks every year. Most injuries occur around the Fourth of July.

Fireworks injuries can be pretty gross - like losing your eyes or hands or fingers. Here are some kids’ stories - every one of them true.

• A 12 year-old, celebrating his team’s basketball championship, lost an eye when he and his friends set off fireworks. He now wears a glass eye.
  
  
• A 7 year-old boy lost half his left hand when he ignited an M-80 firework found hidden in a family bedroom. The M-80 exploded in the boy’s hand.
  
  
• An 8 year-old girl was badly burned on her leg when a sparkler ignited her dress.
  
  
• Three teenage boys shot a Roman Candle firework into a large wooded area. Fourteen acres burned before the fire was extinguished.
  
  
• Two boys, 8 and 10, were seriously burned on their arms when a bottle rocket exploded in their garage. The garage and a car were totally destroyed.
  
  
• An 8 year-old boy lost three fingers after igniting an M-80 firework on the kitchen stove. The victim was on his way outside when the device exploded in his hand.

The stories get worse. Kids have died.

• A 12 year-old girl in San Antonio, Texas was killed when a bottle rocket, set off by a 6 year-old neighbor, struck her in the head.
  
  
• A 17 year-old boy from Shawano, Wisconsin, was playing with a fireworks device that exploded - and killed him.
  
  
• An 8 year-old boy from Selmer, Tennessee was killed when he and his brother played with fireworks in their grandmother’s yard

There are tons of stories like these - all sad, but true.

So, stay away from the hot stuff.

It’s a lot cooler.

More Web Sites of Interest:

National Council on Fireworks Safety

Prevent Blindness America Fireworks Safety

Texas Fireworks Safety

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