Children ages 10 to 14 suffer from fireworks-related injuries more than any other age group. Sparklers were the type of fireworks most frequently associated with injury among children ages 4 and under. Many parents and caregivers overestimate their children's abilities to use fireworks, creating a dangerous environment for injuries. Of all fireworks-related injuries, almost 45 percent are to children ages 14 and under. More than half of fireworks-related injuries involve burns.
Consumer fireworks are legal for public sale in many states.
These devices include fountains, bottle rockets, cylindrical fountains, Roman candles, sky rockets, mines and shells, helicopter-type rockets, certain sparklers, revolving wheels and firecrackers with up to 50 mg. of powder. Mail-order kits for building your own are also banned, although consumer fireworks are readily available through the Internet. Ten states ban all consumer fireworks. Oklahoma allows only fireworks such as firecrackers, sparklers, cone fountains and sky rockets. As with many other issues, the two are not necessarily synonymous.