140 year of Shriners

140 year of Shriners

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Safety for the 4th

Leave the Fireworks to the Professionals!

Shriners offers safety tips for the 4th of July Holiday

Fireworks cause more than 9,000 injuries each year and mo st of these injuries occur right before the Fourth of July holiday. The American holiday of cookouts and festivities can turn a happy occasion into a painful one when people are injured while using fireworks. Although legal in many states, all fireworks are dangerous and can cause burns and serious eye and hand injuries.

Burn care experts at Shriners Hospitals for Children, are stressing to families over the holiday: Leave the Fireworks to the Professionals.

“The safest way to use fireworks is to go to a public display and watch them. If parents decide to use fireworks - older children should be closely and continuously supervised and younger children should not be allowed to use, handle or play with fireworks at all,” notes Dan Kuhn, who is a retired City of Cincinnati assistant fire chief and a Shriner who volunteers at Shriners Hospital. One of the fireworks that are assumed to be the safest - the sparkler - causes more burns than any other device. Sparklers burn at a very high temperature and can easily ignite clothing.

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