While most Mainers will spend the Fourth of July gazing skyward at dazzling fireworks displays, some — if they’re not careful — will end up observing the anniversary of the nation’s independence looking at the interior of an ambulance.
In 2014, 11 Mainers were injured badly enough by fireworks to require a trip to the hospital, according to State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas. Many of the injuries predictably cluster around the July Fourth celebration.
“They range from hand injuries to fingers lost to people losing an eye, broken arms,” he said. “It runs the gamut.”
Nationally, 230 people on average each day wind up in the emergency room with injuries from fireworks during the month surrounding the July Fourth holiday, according to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. Last year, nine people died from such injuries in the U.S., including at least two bystanders.
Hands and fingers take the brunt of the damage, followed by the head, eyes, face and ears, the commission found. Burns accounted for more than half the injuries.
Even the seemingly innocuous sparkler can inflict damage — involved in an estimated 1,400 injuries treated in emergency departments in 2014, according to the commission. The tip of a sparkler burns at up to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, plenty hot enough to ignite clothing and inflict third-degree burns, the National Fire Protection Association warns.
In Maine, the statistics reflect only the most traumatic injuries. Under a 2011 law legalizing fireworks in the state for the first time in six decades, hospitals voluntarily reported injuries from firecrackers, Roman candles and other fireworks, Thomas said. The reports were spotty, prompting Thomas’ office to team with Maine Emergency Medical Services for a more accurate count, he said.
The new surveillance approach took effect in the spring of 2013. From that point to the end of 2013, eight Maine residents were hospitalized with fireworks-related injuries, Thomas said.
The statistics undercount the true number of injuries, missing people who drive themselves to a hospital or a clinic, he said.
The most severe injuries are associated with mortar or reloadable fireworks, which launch bursting aerial shells through tubes, Thomas said. The tubes can lose their shape after multiple discharges, causing the shell to unexpectedly explode from the side, he said.
Problems also result when people use fireworks in ways the manufacturer didn’t intend, Thomas said. He cited one variety known as a “cake” firework, comprised of a series of Roman candles or shells connected by a fuse, which set off in a chain sequence after lighting. Users sometimes divide them to light separately, but that shortens each fuse to about one-eighth of an inch. The fireworks then ignite almost instantaneously, leaving the user or anyone close by at risk of injury as the device detonates, he said.
Across the country, most bodily damage from fireworks results from misuse or malfunctions, such as lighting fireworks in one’s hand, standing too close to lit fireworks or errant flight paths, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Debris and smoke from fireworks were involved in some of injuries.
Nearly half the estimated fireworks-related injuries nationally were suffered by people under age 20.
In Maine, the Fire Marshal’s Office “strongly enforces” the legal age of 21 to buy, use or possess fireworks, Thomas said.
While his office is gearing up for the Fourth of July, it’s not the only holiday prone to injuries from fireworks, he said.
“New Year’s is in there too,” Thomas said.
