Posted: 7/2/2014
Nothing says Fourth of July like fireworks and sparklers, but specialists at Parkland Memorial Hospital’s
Regional Burn Center warn that the potential for severe injuries is especially high during this holiday and they ask that people use extreme caution.
“The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has always urged people to let the professionals handle the fireworks, and that is still very true,” said Sue Vanek, RN, Burn Program Manager at Parkland. “We continue to see people come in each year around the Fourth of July with serious injuries, particularly to their hands, fingers or faces.”
Experts say that many injuries involve sparklers or bottle rockets, items that often are incorrectly considered safe for children.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 8,700 people were treated for fireworks injuries at emergency rooms in 2012. About 5,200 of those injuries occurred during the one-month period between June 22 and July 22. Children less than 15 years of age made up 30 percent of those hurt.
The NFPA also notes that in 2009 fireworks were responsible for 1,300 structure fires.
“If at all possible, families should attend sanctioned fireworks display events,” said Shelli Stephens-Stidham, director of the
Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas at Parkland. “These events have spectacular fireworks that can be enjoyed by all members of the family.”
Stephens-Stidham said that if someone still wants to use fireworks, they need to make sure they are in an area where fireworks are legal and follow basic safety precautions such as not letting small children handle them and supervising any older child using them. Never place any part of your body over a fireworks device and step away quickly after lighting them. Never try to re-light or handle a firework device that has malfunctioned. And, keep water nearby in case of fire.
Vanek said that while the number of fireworks injuries seen by the Parkland Burn Center is not high, the injuries are usually severe, sometimes leading to hospitalization, surgery and skin grafts.
“That’s because fireworks and sparklers produce a lot of heat,” Vanek said. “In fact, the tip of a sparkler burns at 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to produce third-degree burns. That’s 300 degrees hotter than the temperature at which glass melts.”
Any fireworks burn should be cooled with water immediately and if the burn is larger than the palm of the hand, seek medical attention immediately. The best way to help someone injured by fireworks is to get them to a burn center as quickly as possible, according to Vanek. If taken to another hospital facility, the patient with a severe burn will need to be transferred to a burn center, delaying treatment. Burn centers are best prepared to handle the kinds of serious, often deep burns caused by fireworks.
“Many people don’t know we have a burn center Parkland, but our Regional Burn Center serves a geographic area of more than 100,000 square miles, including north and east Texas and southern Oklahoma,” Vanek stated. More than 700 pediatric and adult burn patients were admitted to the hospital in 2013 for inpatient care, and the center had more than 3,900 outpatient visits.
Established in 1962, Parkland’s Burn Center is the second largest civilian burn center in the country. The center houses a Burn Intensive Care Unit, a Burn Acute Care Unit and a Burn Care Outpatient Center. For more information about the Burn Center, visit
http://www.parklandhospital.com/phhs/burn-unit.aspx.