ST. LOUIS — You hear it every year: the loud bangs of fireworks, and the warnings from doctors against them.
“Fireworks are explosives: just like you wouldn't let kids play with dynamite or open flame, we don't recommend kids being around people playing with fireworks or they themselves play with fireworks,” said Dr. Kathryn Spectorsky, assistant professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Even if you’ve been warned before, you might not realize how serious it is.
“It's a substantial number of children who are injured every year, and there are deaths every year,” she said.
Dr. Spectorsky pointed to statistics that show nationally about 10,000 people are hurt from fireworks each year, about a third of them are younger than 15; Already this year, two kids have gone to St. Louis Children's Hospital with serious fireworks injuries.
“These injuries can be as far as loss of a limb or loss of an eye. And they range anywhere from kind of superficial burns to third-degree burns,” she explained.
This year, doctors worry more holiday get-togethers than last year might mean returning to normal with a bang — and not in a good way.
“We certainly don't want to rain on the Fourth of July parade. Go explore these beautiful displays that are put on by experts,” she said.
Also, kids don't have to be the ones handling the fireworks to be the ones hurt by them.
“Oftentimes these could be the adults in the family who are setting off the fireworks and they go awry and can injure children,” she said. “Some of our most severe injuries is when people are like checking the firework to see if it's going off or this seems to be going wrong, and it's then [the firework is] very close to people.”
She also said sometimes the smallest fireworks pose the biggest risk.
“People love sparklers,” she said. “We forget that they burn really hot, up to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. That can melt metal. And so if it touches your skin, it can give you a third-degree burn and then the sparks coming off can light things on fire or can injure eyes.”
Even as we venture out this summer and Independence Day weekend, the doctors say leave the fireworks to the pros.
“No one, no one wants to lose a finger on Fourth of July.”
Remember, it's not only risky: it's illegal to set off your own fireworks in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Illinois also bans most consumer fireworks.