TAMPA, Fla. — The Fourth of July means fireworks, family, and friends, but sometimes that mix can mean someone ends up hurt and in the hospital.
Doctors with AdventHealth Tampa said emergency rooms could see a surge in holiday-related injuries like burns, lacerations, eye injuries, and injuries to the hands and fingers, which they say are often caused by handling fireworks wrong or using illegal or malfunctioning fireworks.
"If you’re going to do your own fireworks, which we always recommend leaving it to the professionals, but if it’s a family tradition or something you like to do, make sure they have open space not near anything that’s flammable,” said Dr. Joyce Perfetti, an emergency physician and medical director with AdventHealth Tampa.
Perfetti said when it comes to fireworks, if it looks like a dud, assume it is, so douse it and never reach for it.
"You'd be surprised. It's just a natural instinct. Something isn't working, so you go down and try to fix it,” said Perfetti. “What the end effect could be is it could have a late combustion, is what we call that, and then you could get that blast over to your face or your hand. Some of those injuries can be catastrophic."
Experts suggest people keep a bucket of water or hose nearby in case of emergencies and soak fireworks after they’ve been used.
Perfetti also shared some advice when it comes to sparklers and kids.
“What I always recommend is if you wouldn’t trust them with a knife, don’t trust them with a sparkler,” said Perfetti. “When they get to an age, or you can explain the dangers and trust them with that on their own, then that’s probably a good age to try. Always educate them to hold a sparkler away, arm straight if possible, and they can still draw in the sky, but angled away from the face and away from anybody else.”
To keep it simple, you can always stick to public fireworks displays around the Tampa Bay area to make it an accident-free holiday.
