There is also the potential for a young child to wave a sparkler around and stick it in the eye of another child or poke themselves. Understand fireworks fuses. Many people believe that fuses burn for a long time, but in truth, many explode three to six seconds after being lighted. Good locations to light fireworks are large, flat surfaces away from homes or buildings. Fireworks-related injuries usually involve the hands, the fingers, the eyes and the head.
Burns are the most common injuries, followed by actual explosions causing bruises and lacerations.
There are also a number of eye injuries, blindness being one of the more serious results. Approximately 10,000 fireworks-related injuries are reported in the United States each year. However, the injury rates are going down with more states outlawing certain types of fireworks. If you want to avoid buying fireworks, take the children to a fireworks display where the public service people control the fireworks in a safe environment. Prepared by Robyn Horton.