According to the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s office, 204 people visited emergency rooms last year with fireworks-related injuries in the 10-day period leading up to July 4th.
The Omaha Professional Fire Fighters Association has fireworks safety tips they hope will help keep injuries and fire incidents down this year. Association member Matt Carmichael says, first of all, it is important to only buy fireworks from licensed sellers. He says be sure to read the directions and remember that fireworks are not toys -- in addition to these warnings:
“Use them in the open in an outdoor area, on a hard surface, make sure they are staying away from homes and dry leaves, anything that’s flammable. And, once again, make sure they are not aiming them at people in any way. And then the other thing we try to highlight is, make sure they are using them correctly – so, you are lighting one firework at a time. Don’t try to do a chain of fireworks like you may see at a professional show – you are not a professional. Utilize them the way they are designed and sold to you as.”
Carmichael also suggests keeping a container of water handy to put your used fireworks in and never trying to re-light a “dud” firework.
Their entire list of safety tips can be found at Omaha Professional Firefighters Association on Facebook.