Legal fireworks with the “safe and sane” seal can be purchased by adults from state authorized vendors, but children are never permitted to buy, use or handle fireworks. Rebecca Alessandri [ahl-ah-SAHN-dree] is with the nonprofit Firefighters Burn Institute.
“Each year, more than 3,000 children under the age of 15 are sent to the ER in the US because of fireworks. Firework related fires, injuries and deaths are avoidable and preventable.”
She says people holding their own fireworks events should offer children glow sticks instead of sparklers, which can heat up to more than two-thousand degrees, hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns. She adds sparklers make up one-third of injuries to children under the age of five.
More information on the safe handling of fireworks is available at fireworks-safety-C-A dot org
