Report: Firework-related injuries and deaths on the rise

By: Noah Dolan

CHICAGO (July 7, 2022) – Several deaths and injuries were reported throughout the United States over the Fourth of July weekend due to firework accidents.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the rate of firework-related injuries and deaths in the United States has risen 25% in the past 15 years, and the Fourth of July weekend is the most common time for these incidents to occur.

One of these fatal firework accidents occurred in Mount Vernon, Indiana, a town near the Indiana-Illinois border. An 11-year-old boy was killed due to head injuries sustained while playing with fireworks on the night of July 4, according to FOX59.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a resident died after a firework incident on the Fourth of July. The man sustained severe chest and neck burns and was pronounced dead later that evening.

WANE-TV reports the man had been running a Fourth of July fireworks show for eight years without incident.

In Montebello, California, a man died after he was injured by an illegal-grade firework. The man was found in his front yard unconscious and not breathing.

Fireworks cause an average of 18,500 fires annually and injure around 11,500 people.

Cincinnati-area ER doctor, Dr. Jaclyn Jansen, outlined the type of injuries often seen sustained from fireworks, “Oftentimes we see adults who have a firework in their hand. They light the firework, and the firework goes off in their hands, that causes a very traumatic injury that results in many, many surgeries,” she said. “As kids go, that’s probably more likely burn injury from sparklers.”

Dr. Jansen went on to discourage people from trying to capture videos of them lighting off fireworks and reminds firework enthusiasts that safety should always come before social media.