Everyone enjoys fireworks, particularly in the festive Fourth of July season. But some fireworks can be dangerous. The National Council on Fireworks Safety recommends that you only buy consumer fireworks from a licensed store or stand. 

    Never buy fireworks from an individual’s house, or from someone on the street.  Such fireworks are likely to be illegal explosives that can seriously injure you.  Consumer fireworks regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission are packaged in bright colors and have safety warnings on the packaging. The packaging sets forth the country of origin, which is normally China. Typical consumer fireworks include fountains, cones, sparklers, fire crackers, bottle rockets and multiple tube products.

    Illegal explosives are often unpackaged and are wrapped with plain brown paper.  They are very unlikely to have any safety warnings, or place of manufacture. Many of them are hand made in basements or illicit factories. They go by names such as M80, Quarter Stick or Cherry Bomb. If someone approaches you to sell one of these illegal explosives, politely decline and then call your local police department.

    Consumer fireworks, if used in accordance with their instructions, are very safe.  Injuries from consumer fireworks have shown a dramatic decrease over the past twenty years, despite an astonishing increase in usage by consumers. Some form of consumer fireworks are now allowed in 45 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. In 2006, over 250 million pounds of consumer fireworks entered this country from China, an all time high.

    Many times consumers don’t prepare for the evening’s fireworks display.  The designated shooter should prepare a shooting area, assess how many people will be watching the display and lay out a spectator area that is far enough away from the shooting site. The shooter should carefully read the label of each firework and understand exactly what it will do. Preplanning makes for a safe and fun backyard fireworks display.

    Enjoy celebrating the heritage of our great country with fireworks, but KNOW YOUR FIREWORKS and use common sense!

Tips on Choosing Safe Fireworks

    It is extremely important to know the difference between a legal consumer firework and a dangerous explosive device. Items such as M-80s, M-100s and blockbusters are not fireworks, they are federally banned explosives. They can cause serious injury or even death. Stay away from anything that isn't clearly labeled with the name of the item, the manufacturer's name and instructions for proper use. Here are some more tips to help ensure a safe Fourth of July:

    Fireworks are not toys. Fireworks complying with strict regulations enacted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1976 function primarily by burning to produce motion and visible or audible effects. They are burning at approximately the same temperature as a household match and can cause burn injuries and ignite clothing if used improperly.

    NEVER give fireworks to young children. Close, adult supervision of all fireworks activities is mandatory. Even sparklers can be unsafe if used improperly.

    Select and use only legal devices. If you choose to celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks, check with your local police department to determine what fireworks can be legally discharged in your area.

    Stay away from illegal explosives. Illegal explosive devices continue to cause serious injuries around the Fourth of July holiday. These devices were commonly known as M-80s, M-100s, blockbusters, silver sallutes or quarterpounders. These have been Federally banned since 1966, these items will not contain the manufacturer's name and are usually totally unlabeled. Don't purchase or use unlabeled fireworks. If you are aware of anyone selling such devices, contact your local police department.

    Homemade fireworks are deadly. Never attempt to make your own devices and do not purchase or use any kits that are advertised for making fireworks. Mixing and loading chemical powders is very dangerous and can kill or seriously injure you. Leave the making of fireworks to the experts.

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Videos on Firework Safety

Introduction
 

TRANSCRIPT:  Julie Heckman: Hi! I am Julie Heckman, Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. I love fireworks and I have been involved with the firework industry for almost 20 years. Part of my role with the American Pyrotechnics Association is to promote the safe and responsible use of backyard fireworks. So, today I am going to walk to you through the entire process from selecting your product, to finding the proper venue to discharge your fireworks, to keep your spectator safe and also how to light the fuse.

Now, one of the things you need to know is that you don't need a lot of equipment. For example, a few things that will be handy to keep your celebration safe would be a bucket of water or a good garden hose. You want to think about protecting your eyes, safety glasses or safety goggles are a key component to protecting your eyes when using fireworks. It is also important that you use the utility lighter or an extended safety stick when you are lighting the fuses to protect your hands from the ignition of the fuse. Now, when we talk about fireworks, safety is always important and you need to make certain that, when you are going to use fireworks, you use them in an area that is free from dry grass and brush and shrubs as well as other household combustibles and you want to make certain that you keep children and spectators at safe distances. It is extremely important that really youngsters don't get a chance to even handle fireworks. Now, we are about ready to have some fun with fireworks. So, lets get started.

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Selecting Fireworks
 

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Choosing the Proper Location
 

TRANSCRIPT:  Julie Heckman: Hi! I am Julie Heckman, Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Today, we are discussing firework safety. Now, I am going to show you how to choose the proper area to use your backyard fireworks. If you are blessed with a big back beautiful yard like this one; there is a few things you need to know. Right now, this backyard is not proper for using fireworks. Take a look at the grass; they havent had much rainfall here and the grass is very dry and brittle. This is a very poor environment for using fireworks, since they are designed to burn. Another factor you have to keep in mind is whether you have dry shrubs, if you have any low -hanging tree limbs or even if you have power lines overhead. One more factor is to analyze do you have household combustibles nearby. Here is a propane tank; this does not mix well with fireworks. Thats just one more reason why I wouldnt recommend this backyard and we are not done yet, stability is very important. You need to use your fireworks on a flat level surface. Again when we look at this grass, it is not very flat and it is not very leveled and in fact it would be risky venue to choose to use fireworks because it will put your spectators in risk.

Now, assume this backyard was beautiful green, had been blessed with lots of rain during the past month and you wanted to use fireworks here. My primary recommendation would be, to put down a sturdy piece of plywood to level out the area so that when you fire these devices they will remain stable and keep your spectators safe. Now, like I mentioned this backyard isnt appropriate because of the dry conditions and the dry grass and the lack of stability. But if you follow me I am going to take you to an area that will be good. Now, I am going to explain to you why this is a much better place to use your fireworks, for example any driveway hold colder sac, or a nice neighborly street provide an excellent venue for discharging fireworks.

We have got plenty of open, flat leveled surface so when we place our items on the ground, we have eliminated the risk of tip over. We have also been able to avoid all that dry grass and the shrubs, in addition we dont have to worry about power lines here; we have got plenty of open space which also lets us consider where we can put our spectators. Next we are going to talk about how to actually set up and discharge those fireworks.

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Preparations
 

TRANSCRIPT:  Julie Heckman: Hi! I am Julie Heckman, Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Today, we are talking about firework safety. Now that we found our perfect spot, to use fireworks, I am going to cover with you some important safety tips to help you get your site ready for proper use of fireworks. First of all, as you can see we have plenty of distance here; we have put all of the fireworks that we are going to discharge off to one side. We have got our bucket of water handy and just as important a good working garden hose. It is perfect for extinguishing any sparklers or left over fireworks, once you have used them the garden hose is great just in case there is a mishap. We also have our safety glasses so that we are prepared when we are going to light the fireworks.

So, just a few steps for you to keep in mind as you prepare your area to actually enjoy celebrating with fireworks. Couple of other factors you need to be aware of is with your spectators you want to keep them at a safe distance, since we are going to use some cones and fountains today such as these devices; we need at least a minimum of 25 feet to keep our spectators safe. If you live in an area that allows you to use a larger, aerial fireworks, you want to make certain that you are at least 40 feet, provide 40 feet for your spectators. If children are going to be in the area, I highly recommend and this comes from my heart as a mother, never let young children handle fireworks, even sparklers can be dangerous if they are improperly handled. They are designed to burn at very high temperatures and they can easily ignite clothing, if the child is not careful or if they are careless. Another step to keep in mind is teenagers, what we all know that teenagers like to be adventurous and they take plenty of risk. It is very important if you are going to let your teenagers light the fuses that you sit and sound, discuss safety with them and let them know that fireworks are serious business. That will help insure that they can have a safe and happy celebration.

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Igniting and Clean Up
 

TRANSCRIPT:  Julie Heckman: Hi! I am Julie Heckman, Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Today we are discussing firework safety. Now we have just selected our perfect spot to use fireworks and we walked through the important tips to keep in mind in setting up the area so that it is safe to use fireworks. Now I am going to show you how to properly ignite your fireworks as well as dispose them afterwards.

As you can see we have selected an area that has plenty of space. We have got lots of room to discharge our fireworks that keeps us free and clear from our products that are waiting to be used as well as our crowd or spectators. I am going to place this on a flat level surface and now before we actually light the fuse on the fireworks. We have just a few more tips we need to cover. First, its important to have a sober, responsible adult in charge of all firework activities. In this case that would be me. We have got our safety gear. We have our bucket of water handy and we have a working garden hose just in case we have a mishap.

We have our safety glasses which are very important to protect your eyes and I am going to use the utility lighter because that gives me a little extra distance from the fuse and will help protect my arm in any event if the fuse sputters quickly. Now with those tips in mind we are ready to light the fireworks and have some fun. And I am going to move at a safe distance.

Now, a few more tips, I would like to share with you to make certain that your celebration with fireworks is safe and enjoyable for you and your family. Please only light one firework at a time and again keep your pets inside the house and keep youngsters away from the fireworks. Now the last step we need to do is actually clean up and it is rather simple. You want to take your finished firework item and it is still going to be pretty warm for you to touch, you should dispose off it in the bucket of water. Let those fireworks soak on ice and when they have cooled in the morning it is very simple to just dump them into your trash. And dispose off them with the rest of your household garbage. I hope you found this video production to be informative and educational and I hope that all of your fireworks celebrations in the future are safe and happy ones.

LINKS TO SOME MORE VIDEOS