Having a big bright blast, but safely

Every year around this time, health and public safety officials give the same warning about using good common sense around fireworks. But there’s a valid reason these time-worn calls for safety are trotted out time and time again — fireworks are dangerous.

Last year, there were eight fireworksrelated deaths reported in the United States, with victims ranging in age from 4 to 57, according a report issued last week by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. There were also 12,900 fireworksrelated injuries treated in emergency rooms throughout the country in 2017 — up from 11,100 the year before.

None of the deaths mentioned in the report took place in Connecticut, and at least one local emergency room doctor said fireworks-related injuries aren’t a huge problem in this area. On the Fourth of July, Bridgeport Hospital only gets one or two serious incidents a year, if that, said Dr. Michael Werdmann, an emergency department physician at the hospital.

“Despite the real and meaningful risk of hand and eye injuries (from fireworks), we tend to be relatively fortunate,” Werdmann said. “It’s only occasionally that we have to admit anybody.”

His experience is supported by statewide numbers on fireworks injuries, which are relatively low.

According to the state Department of Public Health, between fiscal years 2011 and 2015, there were only 21 hospitalizations for unintentional injuries related to fireworks, and these injuries accounted for .01 percent of all injury-related hospitalization in Connecticut during this time period. There were also 138 emergency department visits for fireworks injuries between 2011 and 2015, accounting for 0.01 percent of all injuryrelated emergency department visits during that period.

The department also reported that, between 2008 and 2014 (the most current numbers available), there were no fireworks-related deaths in Connecticut.

Werdmann said the state’s fairly strict laws on fireworks could account for the relative scarcity of injuries.

All fireworks are illegal for non-professional use in Connecticut, except sparklers and fountains. State law defines sparklers as non-explosive, non-aerial devices that contain less than 100 grams of pyrotechnic mixture. Fountains are defined as non-explosive, non-aerial devices that contain less than 100 grams of pyrotechnic for each individual item.

But even though fireworks-linked injuries aren’t a major problem in the state, experts still urge caution. “Our advice is to leave that to the professionals,” said Dr. Bo Chen, emergency department physician at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.

Even if the fireworks a person buys are legal, it doesn’t mean they’re safe, said Connecticut State Police Detective Paul Makuk. He is a member of the Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit of the state police.

“Basically we oversee the licensing and use of all commerical and public displays of fireworks,” Makuk said. “Along with that, we investigate all incidents relating to fireworks and explosives at the request of a town’s fire marshal. The reason for that is because we have the training and the expertise to provide to a town that people there might not have.”

Over the years, Makuk said, he has investigated all types of incidents, many of them involving children. “In Connecticut, no one over 16 is allowed to buy, use or sell fireworks, but kids get hurt because they’re allowed to have them,” he said.

“Parents let kids hold sparklers, and they get excited or scared, they throw them, and they get hurt,” he said “In 2007 in Meriden, two children were playing with sparklers in bed, the bed caught fire, and an 18month-old died from the fire ... in another incident, (fireworks were) thrown through the window of a home, a fire started, and a 24-year-old died in that fire. So there’s always a danger. My advice is, leave the fireworks to the experts and enjoy them that way.”