Prisma Health Children’s Hospital–Midlands offers fireworks safety tips

Prisma Health Children’s Hospital–Midlands, Safe Kids Midlands and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urge families to protect their children from injuries caused by fireworks.

“We encourage families to attend community fireworks displays run by professionals, rather than using fireworks at home,” said Derick Wenning, MD, medical director of the Children’s Emergency Center at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital–Midlands. “Fireworks can cause severe burns, blindness, scars and even death.”

Sparklers are an iconic symbol of July Fourth celebrations, but parents may not realize that sparklers can reach temperatures near 2000 degrees Fahrenheit – which is as hot as a blow torch and is hot enough to melt glass. “Sparklers can burn users and people standing nearby, and should not be in the hands of children,” said Wenning.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, fireworks-related injuries result in a nationwide average of 240 daily visits to the emergency room in the 30 days surrounding the July Fourth holiday. Nearly one-third of those injuries are caused by sparklers.

The AAP said, “There is no safe way to use backyard fireworks. Every type of legally available consumer firework has been associated with serious injury or death, and close adult supervision is not enough. The private use of fireworks is hazardous under any conditions.”

Leave fireworks to the experts 

• Don’t use fireworks at home.
• Plan to attend a public display which is put on by professionals.

Skip the sparklers 

• A child’s arms are too short to hold sparklers far away from the face and body.
• Sparklers can heat up enough to cause severe burns.

Let it glow

• Glow sticks are a safer alternative to sparklers.
• Look for red, white and blue glow sticks for your Independence Day celebration.

About Prisma Health Children’s Hospital–Midlands
Prisma Health Children's Hospital–Midlands is South Carolina’s first children's hospital and has more than 150,000 children’s visits each year. It offers more than 30 subspecialties to meet the unique health care needs of children and has central South Carolina's only Children’s Emergency Center. With more than 350 professionals who work exclusively with children, Prisma Health Children's Hospital–Midlands has a team of highly skilled and trained experts unmatched by any hospital in the Midlands. Prisma Health Children's Hospital–Midlands is the place to go for children's medical care, because the best care matters.