Fire officials advising residents to prioritize supervision and awareness when using fireworks during this weekend’s celebrations.
Putnam County Fire Chief Jeff Hicks said adults should always supervise the use of fireworks and never allow children to handle them alone. Hicks said individuals should use lighting sticks to keep their hands at a safe distance from the fuse and carefully consider the fallout area where debris will land.
“It’s their right to use them and and people enjoy them and and the kids love them and so they have their place,” Hicks said. “But, you know, you should always have a garden hose handy if you’re that close, a bucket of water, fire extinguisher.”
Hicks said certain types of fireworks, such as sparklers, can cause eye injuries if they are held too close to the face. Hicks said a specific type of reloadable firework known as a festival ball is particularly dangerous because of the velocity with which it exits the cardboard launch tube.
“The festival ball is the biggest ones because if you bend over them when you light them and if it for some reason went off before you thought it, it could actually hit you right in the face,” Hicks said. “It’s coming out of there with a great force.”
Hicks said the festival ball functions like a cannon, where individual shots are dropped into a tube before being ignited to create a display similar to commercial fireworks. Hicks said while commercial versions are typically three inches in diameter, the consumer versions sold at local stands are smaller, measuring approximately an inch and a half.
Deputy Chief Charles Doss said the safest way to enjoy the holiday is by attending organized displays rather than attempting to use fireworks at home. Doss said the improper disposal of hot fireworks remains a leading cause of residential fires during the summer celebrations.
While festival balls are usually the most dangerous, Hicks said bottle rockets and other projectiles frequently cause brush fires.
“I can think of a couple off the top of my head where one of them as it went off, it, I don’t know if it struck something, but it didn’t go the direction they intended for it to and it shot and went straight in a vent, gable vent of a shed, and set the shed on fire and burned it down,” Hicks said.
Hicks said users should never attempt to light a firework and throw it by hand. Hicks said thousands of bottle rockets are shot on Fourth of July weekend across the Upper Cumberland.
“If you’re shooting a firework that’s supposed to go up and explode with a display, you can have what’s called a low break where it doesn’t go as high as it’s supposed to, so when it explodes out, you’re in the projectile range,” Hicks said.
Hicks said property owners should perform a thorough walk-through of their land after they finish shooting fireworks to check for embers. Hicks said residents should pay particular attention to areas downwind from the launch site to ensure nothing is still burning.