Look but don't touch

Fireworks-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms plummeted by one-third in 1996 to the lowest level in nearly two decades. Coming after a 10 percent decline in 1995, this latest decrease may represent a major step toward eliminating the huge annual toll from the ill-advised private use of fireworks.1

But amidst this good news are several reminders of the severe damage to life and property that fireworks can-and too often do-cause. Fatal fireworks-related incidents individually reported to NFPA, by themselves, demonstrated that 1996 was an unusually severe year for fatalities linked to fireworks. Multiple million-dollar fires traced to fireworks in 1996 suggest that the recent historical pattern of tens of millions of dollars of loss in such fires continues and may have worsened. And fireworks-related injuries to the most vulnerable victims-children under age 5-didn't decline in 1996, despite the dramatic overall decline in fireworks-related injuries reported to hospital emergency rooms.

The information on the latest fireworks-related injury toll arrived just before press time, and it was so dramatic that we decided to try to gain some insight into reasons for the large decline. By contacting the state fire marshal's offices in most of America's largest states, we discovered some new developments that may have contributed to the improvement in 1996. For example, North Carolina enacted legislation prohibiting the sale of so-called "safe and sane" fireworks to persons under the age of 16. New York City enforced its no-fireworks regulations in part by confiscating property used to hold fireworks, including automobiles and an entire store. In addition, several Texas counties outlawed fireworks in response to a severe drought. California sharply raised its fireworks license fees, eliminating all but a few large suppliers, and conducted extensive safety education. And the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office conducted public education programs on the dangers of fireworks.

Although these examples directly address only a fraction of the country, what's striking is the emphasis on enforcement, more restrictive laws, and other approaches that seek to cut direct public access to fireworks. Whether those initiatives drove the 1996 decline or not, strict laws and enforcement-rather than illusory education on the "safe" use of fireworks-will be the key to sustained, long-term reductions in the fireworks toll.

Since at least 1910, NFPA's mission has included commitment to stopping the dangerous private use of fireworks, which accounts for nearly all of the injuries and deaths due to fireworks.

Even with the state and local initiatives described above, many states permit ordinary, untrained citizens to buy and use fireworks-objects designed to explode, throw off showers of hot sparks, and reach surface temperatures as high as 1,200E The thousands of serious injuries and extensive property loss nearly all arise from this misguided activity, rather than from the safer way to enjoy fireworks, which is at public fireworks displays conducted in accordance with NFPA 1123, Code for Fireworks Display. Anything else is a violation of the Fire Marshals Association of North America's (FMANA) Model Fireworks Law.

Children suffer most from the widespread private use of fireworks, whether as spectators or, too often, as active participants. On Independence Day in a typical year, fireworks cause more fires in the United States than all other causes of fire on that day combined. But because most Americans encounter the risk of fireworks only once a year, many don't realize how great that risk is.

Fires and losses caused by fireworks

Table 1 summarizes estimated fire losses due to fireworks from 1980 through 1995. In 1995, an estimated 27,400 fires involving fireworks were reported to U.S. fire departments, the lowest such total in three years. These fires were estimated to have killed 1 civilian, injured another 93, and caused $32.5 million in direct property damage, the highest such total in three years.

In fact, fireworks-related fires have typically caused at least $20 million in property loss each year in recent years. Four 1996 incidents alone caused a total of $13 million in property damage, suggesting that 1996 will be an especially bad year for fireworks-related loss when reporting is complete.

The most severe of the four incidents began last June as a wildfire in Alaska when fireworks are believed to have ignited a stand of spruce trees. Fire spread over 60 acres before it was contained, then broke out of containment the next day as high winds and low humidity took hold. News accounts put the final toll at more than 360 structures, principally dwellings, and more than 37,000 acres. A preliminary estimate of the dollar loss exceeded $9 million, not including the value of building contents. More details on this incident will appear in NFPA's annual large-loss fires study in the November issue of NFPA Journal.

Two other incidents were classic examples of property loss due to fireworks. Both involved juveniles who set off bottle rockets that ignited the wood-shingle roofs of two California apartment buildings. Both woodframe buildings suffered extensive fire damage, and neither building had sprinklers. Losses were estimated at just over $1 million for each incident.

The fourth incident was less typical but provided a sobering reminder of the danger of fireworks that seem the least threatening. A mother used a sparkler in lieu of a candle for her daughter's birthday cake, and the sparks it threw off ignited a bed skirt. The resulting fire quickly spread through their Connecticut apartment building. The only sprinklers in the building were located in the basement, so they did little to stop the fire. The final damage estimate was $1.6 million.

Deaths due to fireworks-related fires and deaths that are directly caused by fireworks aren't the same (see Table 2). Fireworks may start fires that subsequently cause deaths, and fireworks may kill directly without producing a fire that requires a fire department response. Table 2 shows statistics on both types of fireworks-related deaths for 1983 through 1993. The year 1993 is the latest for which both types of statistics are available.

A particularly tragic example of deaths due to fires started by fireworks occurred in Ohio on July 3, 1996. A man in his mid-20s lit a fireworks device in a fireworks retail store. The exploding device ignited the entire inventory of fireworks, and nine people died in the resulting fire. The store's wet-pipe sprinkler system had been turned off before the incident, so it provided no help.

While some would treat this incident solely as an example of the deliberate misuse of fireworks, it's indisputable that this incident couldn't have occurred in a community that prohibited fireworks use by the untrained public. The individual in question would never have had access to fireworks, and even if he had, there wouldn't have been a crowd of people in a store devoted to fireworks sales, where they would be vulnerable to a fast-developing fire.

More details on this incident will be included in NFPAs annual study of catastrophic multiple-death fires in the September issue of NFPA Journal Details of a second 1996 multiple-death incident involving the incendiary use of fireworks are given in this issue's "Fire Watch" column.

Most fireworks-related injuries don't involve fires that are reported to fire departments. In 1995, for example, an estimated 93 civilians were injured in reported fires caused by fireworks, but fireworks-related injuries reported to hospital emergency rooms alone totaled 11,400 that same year. Other fireworks-related injuries, such as those treated in doctors' offices or at home, aren't documented in any national database, but they would surely push the total even higher.

In 1996, an estimated 7,600 people suffered fireworks-related injuries severe enough to require treatment in hospital emergency rooms, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). This was the lowest total by far since 1978 (see Figure 1).2

While the overall news for 1996 was encouraging, the injury toll for the most vulnerable victims-children under age 5-wasn't. They went from 4 percent of the 11,400 injuries in 1995 to 7 percent of the 7,600 injuries in 1996 (see Figure 2). If you do the math, you'll see that meant little change in the injury toll.

The age breakdowns available for 1996 fireworks injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms aren't the same as those used in past CPSC studies. Consequently, the relative risks by age group don't clearly show what past studies have shown. Children ages 10 to 14 have the highest risk, with children ages 15 to 19 close behind. In Figure 3, these two age groups are indistinguishable from children ages 5 to 9 and adults ages 20 to 24, respectively.

Male victims accounted for three-fourths of fireworks injuries. Among adults age 65 and older, however, women accounted for nearly three-fourths of fireworks injuries.

Other patterns

In a typical year, two-thirds to three-fourths of all fireworks injuries occur during the onemonth period around July 4. For 1996, that breakdown wasn't available, but the statistics we do have showed that 68 percent of 1996 fireworks injuries occurred in July. The injuries that occur at other times of the year reflect, in part, certain local traditions, such as the use of fireworks during Christmas and New Year holidays nationally, the Chinese New Year in some areas, and Mardi Gras in parts of the South.

In a typical year, most fireworks injuries involve fireworks that are permitted under federal law, but wouldn't be allowed under FMANA's long-standing Model Fireworks Law. That breakdown wasn't available at press time for 1996, but figures for past years show that substantially reducing the high annual toll of fireworks injuries will require a reduction in injuries caused by fireworks that aren't covered by current federal law. Simply enforcing the existing law won't affect the fireworks that cause most of the problem.

It's possible that limited laws, such as the federal law, are actually more difficult to enforce than a broader law would be because the existence of some legal fireworks for the public encourages a climate of acceptance and creates a distribution network, both of which make it easier for amateurs to obtain illegal fireworks.

What does it all mean?

Fireworks typically have been one of the leading causes of injuries serious enough to require hospital emergency-room treatment, although there was a large drop in 1996. However, the fact that public fireworks displays consistently account for a very small share of the fireworks problem shows that fireworks can be used safely by professionals who follow NFPA 1123, Code for Fireworks Display. One of the reasons NFPA 1123 works is that it puts the control of fireworks in the hands of trained professionals.

Although most fireworks injuries involve devices that are legal under current federal law, illegal fireworks, including homemade devices, also account for many serious injuries. Efforts to enforce existing laws must be maintained and, if possible, extended to address the problem of homemade devices. We must also find a way to convince the average person that the safe use of fireworks means no use at all by untrained people. "Safe and sane" fireworks are neither.

When things go wrong with fireworks, they go very wrong, very fast-far faster than any fire protection provisions can reliably respond. And fireworks are a classic attractive nuisance for children. In fact, most fireworks injuries involve children, and those in their school-age years consistently face the highest risk. If children are present to watch, they'll be tempted to touch. Children can move too fast and be badly hurt too quickly if they're close to fireworks, as they inevitably are at home fireworks displays. Why would anyone, especially a parent who knows the facts about fireworks, want to take that chance when they can enjoy a festive-and safe-Fourth of July at readily available public displays?

We in the fire protection community must spread the word in order to reduce the awful toll of injury, death, and damage caused by the use of fireworks by amateurs.

References

Federal law permits public use of what are now referred to as "consumer fireworks"formerly known as "common," or Class C, fireworks-which are defined as "any small fireworks device designed primarily to produce visible effects by combustion" that comply with specific construction, chemical composition, and labeling regulations. These include a 50-mg maximum limit of

explosive composition for ground devices and a 130-mg maximum limit of explosive composition for aerial devices. "Safe and sane" fireworks include devices such as sparklers, fountains, snakes, party poppers, and ground spinners. Laws based on this approach allow considerable private use of fireworks but exclude any explosive-type devices that lift off the ground that are allowed under federal law.

2.ARI fireworks-related injury statistics from hospital emergency rooms come from reports by CPSC and from private communications with Linda E. Smith of the CPSC. Linda Smith also provided the rules for setting the range of fireworks injury estimates during the period from 1985 to 1989, reflecting a change in the sample. Reports referenced include Sheila L. Kelly, Fireworks Injuries, 1994; Dr. Terry L. Kissinger, Fireworks InjuriesResults of a 1992 NEISS Study; Linda Smith and Sheila Kelly, Fireworks Injuries, 1990, Deborah Kale and Beatrice Harwood, Fireworks Injuries-1981; and the May/June 1974 issue of NEISS News. All are published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Special thanks

The author would like to thank NFP/l's field offices for contacting the state fire marshals offices in most of America's largest states. He also thanks the people in those offices who provided the information to Steve Badger, author of NFPA's annual study of large-loss fires.

Copyright National Fire Protection Association Jul/Aug 1997
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