9,200 People Treated in Emergency Departments for Fireworks-Related Injuries

Be Safe: Leave Fireworks Displays to Trained Professionals

In 2006, eleven people died and an estimated 9,200 were treated in emergency departments for fireworks-related injuries in the United States.¹ An estimated 5% of fireworks-related injuries treated in emergency departments required hospitalization.¹

An estimated 6,400 fireworks-related injuries – more than two-thirds of all fireworks-related injuries in 2006 – occurred between June 16 and July 16. During that time period:

• one out of every three people injured were children under 15 years of age;

• about three times as many males were injured as females; and

• young people under twenty sustained nearly half (47%) of all injuries from fireworks.¹

People actively participating in fireworks-related activities are more frequently and severely injured than bystanders.¹

What kinds of injuries occur?

Between June 16 and July 16, 2006:

• Injuries most often affected the hands (2,300 injuries), eyes (1,500 injuries), and the head, face, and ear (1,400 injuries).¹

• More than half of the injuries were burns. Burns were the most common injury to all body parts except the eyes and head areas, where contusions, lacerations and foreign bodies in the eye occurred more frequently.¹

• Fireworks can be associated with blindness, third degree burns, and permanent scarring.²

• Fireworks can also cause life-threatening residential and motor vehicle fires.¹

References

¹ Greene MA, Joholske J. 2006 Fireworks Annual Report: Fireworks-Related Deaths, Emergency Department Treated Injuries, and Enforcement Activities During 2006. Washington (DC): U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission; 2007 [cited 22 May 2008]. (PDF)

² Smith GA, Knapp JF, Barnett, TM, Shields BJ. The rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air: fireworks-related injuries to children. Pediatrics 1996; 98(1):1-9.

For More Information, see the Fireworks-Related Injuries Fact Sheet.

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