Merrimack Fire Officials Urge Residents to Keep Hands Off Fireworks

Merrimack's Assistant Fire Chief Anthony Stowers and Fire Marshal John Manuele are urging residents to leave the fireworks this weekend up to the professionals.

Though many fireworks are legal in New Hampshire, many are not, Stowers said. And all fireworks by their very nature pose a risk to the people who set them off.

Stowers said there haven't been many serious incidents in town related to fireworks over the years, but accidents happen, and those accidents commonly include personal injury and ignition of brush fires, he said.

In 2008, a Merrimack toddler was seriously burned when a bucket of fireworks being shot off by the toddler's father, Sean Maloney, tipped over and two of the fireworks hit the toddler, according to published reports that July.

Though the incident happened in Leominster, Mass., accidents such as that can happen anywhere, which is why Manuele was blunt in his advice this Fourth of July weekend.

"Go watch the town's display," he said. "[Fireworks] are legal but they are dangerous."

Additionally, Manuele said, don't mix fireworks with consumption of alcohol.

The Merrimack Fire Department is serious about fireworks safety, Stowers said. The department last year held a class to teach other fire and safety officials about the important things to look for when inspecting the site for a fireworks display. 

The fire department also shot a consumer safety video with tips on minimizing risk if you plan to set off your own fireworks.

While Stowers and Manuele both stressed that it would be safer if untrained people avoided fireworks altogether, they recognize that there will still be plenty of people who will shoot them off anyway.

So Stowers passed along some food for thought:

In 2010, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 8,600 people for fireworks-related injuries. 73 percent of these injuries occurred between June 18 - July 18. Of these:

• 65 percent were to males and 35 percent were to females.
• Children under 15 years old accounted for 40 percent of the estimated injuries.
• Children and young adults under 20 years old had 53 percent of the estimated injuries.
• An estimated 900 injuries were associated with firecrackers. Of these, an estimated 30 percent were associated with small firecrackers, 17 percent with illegal firecrackers, and 53 percent where the type of firecracker was not specified.
• An estimated 1,200 injuries were associated with sparklers and 400 with bottle rockets.
• The parts of the body most often injured were hands and fingers (30 percent), legs (22 percent), eyes (21 percent), and head, face, and ears (16 percent).
• More than half of the injuries were burns.
• Burns were the most common injury to all parts of the body except the eyes, where contusions, lacerations, and foreign bodies in the eye occurred more frequently.
• Most patients were treated at the emergency department and then released.
• An estimated 7 percent of patients were treated and transferred to another hospital or admitted to the hospital.

 Source: The U.S. Fire Administration

For more information on fireworks safety and laws, visit the state's website for the Division of Fire Safety. There you will find the permissible fireworks list and the safety video shot by the Merrimack Fire Department.