Fireworks and Other 4th of July Dangers

“Our municipality has a fireworks ordinance. You cannot shoot fireworks inside our city. Not all cities have that."

This Fourth of July weekend will be filled with the bangs, flames and pops of fireworks and bar-b-ques. Unfortunately, some will result in fire and injury. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports.

At a roadside fireworks stand in Pearl, Rita Norton is gathering the goods for the big fourth of July extravaganza.

“Mostly little sparklers and pops and roman candles, and ah, different colored sparklers, they like those.”

It's something she has enjoyed since she was a child, but she's adding a safety element as she passes the tradition on to her grandchildren.

“You know you teach children don’t use matches, don’t strike. But they can do that and have fun and see it and get close to it. And it’s also a celebration kind of thing because people are having fun when they are shooting fireworks. But people need to remember to always supervise their children because fireworks are very, very dangerous.”

Dr. Bill Lineaweaver agrees whole heartedly. He specializes in burn injuries at Crossgates River oaks hospital in Brandon, and says one of the saddest parts of the July 4th holiday are the number of emergency room visits because of explosive and burn injuries.

“This can involve eye injuries, bone and tendon injuries to the hand and extensive burns to the face. So that emphasis on fireworks safety is just extraordinarily important. There are cooking grill type injuries, often a piece of clothing will catch on fire, buildings can catch on fire. The combination of flame burned and explosion is a real tough combination of injuries that tends to happen around fourth of July.”

Officials say, It's important to know where fireworks are allowed... Meridian Fire Chief Jeff Homan.

“Our municipality has a fireworks ordinance. You cannot shoot fireworks inside our city. Not all cities have that. So ah, you know wherever these people are they need to check and make sure it’s legal to shoot fireworks if they do. And then the parents need to keep an eye on their kids. They don’t need to just turn ‘em loose with a pack of fireworks and let ‘em to go play.”

Last year in Mississippi, fireworks were blamed for nearly 200 property and home fires. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.