As ERs prep for July 4th, Atlanta experts say leave fireworks to pros

The AJC spoke with Paulk and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta pediatric emergency medicine physician Dr. Sofia Chaudhary to discuss how parents can prevent their children from getting injured.

How common are fireworks injuries?

In 2023, the latest year of data provided by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s fireworks report, fireworks were involved in an estimated 9,700 hospitalizations nationwide. The number of yearly injuries has been trending upward since 2008 too, with the CPSC estimating an additional 561 fireworks-related injuries every year.

While nearly 10,000 injuries happened throughout all of 2023, two-thirds of those injuries happened between June 16 and July 16. For Atlanta’s emergency rooms, the week of July Fourth is when the influx of fireworks injuries is often the greatest.

“At Children’s last year, in our health care system at Children’s, we had close to over 30 burns in the system and at least six eye injuries around Fourth of July all related to fireworks,” Chaudhary said.

In 2023, according to a CPSC special study, children younger than 15 accounted for nearly a third of all fireworks-related injuries. People 15 to 19 accounted for the highest overall rate of related injuries at 4.5 for every 100,000 people.

“Our patient population around July Fourth last year, just for overall burns, was about 10%,” Paulk said, explaining how Grady, which is home to Georgia’s only Level 1 trauma center, sees a significant amount of patients for fireworks injuries and unrelated burn wounds. “And it usually increases between like mid-June to mid-July, that those ER visits are happening.”

How badly can fireworks injure you?

The CPSC’s special study revealed that hands and fingers are the most common areas for injuries, something reflected by Paulk and Chaudhary’s observations.

Roughly 42% of all fireworks-related injuries were burns, the most common form of injury. These range from first to third degree, where all layers of the skin — potentially fat and muscle tissue beneath — have been burned. Nearly a fifth of injuries in 2023 occurred around or in the eyes, sometimes blinding them.

Despite lacking the explosive flourish of their more popular roman candles or bottle rockets, sparklers accounted for 700 ER visits nationwide in 2023. That’s because they burn thousands of degrees — hot enough to melt some metals.

When children are near loud fireworks, hearing loss is also a major concern.

“The level of sound for fireworks is said to be as high as like 150 decibels,” Chaudhary said. “Safe hearing level is anywhere between 75 to 80.”

Paulk suggested letting your children wear hearing protection whenever they are near loud fireworks displays.

How parents can prevent fireworks injuries

So, how can Atlanta parents be sure their children have fun and stay safe during the summer celebration? According to the experts, it’s best to leave the fireworks to the professionals.

“The other thing that I would recommend is that any fireworks that are being set off at home should be done by adults or at least older teens with adult supervision,” Chaudhary said. “We specifically recommend that younger children, adolescents, should not be handling fireworks on their own.”

Adults looking to celebrate safely with their own fireworks should visit the CPSC website for information on proper use and protection.

“If you’re going to buy fireworks yourself, then look up what is the appropriate way to handle these,” Paulk added. “What are the appropriate containers to put these in, because they need to be in stabilized containers. What does that actually look like? What is the type of eye protection I should be wearing? What are the type of hands and gloves protection?”

How to treat fireworks injuries

If your child has been injured by a firework, immediately seek medical attention. Paulk advised that you can wrap burn wounds with plain cloth that’s been dampened with water.

“Put it over the injury, wrap it in the cool cloths and then get to us immediately,” she said. “The things to stay away from are a lot of those home remedies, such as butter.”