{"id":16775,"date":"2025-01-01T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=16775"},"modified":"2025-03-18T10:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T16:32:01","slug":"fireworks-fun-without-the-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/fireworks-fun-without-the-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks safety: Fun without the danger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Back when Mike Mitchell was growing up near Boise, Idaho, he and his buddies used to love setting off fireworks.<\/p>\n

Among their favorites were \u201ccrackling balls,\u201d little circular fireworks that look like marbles with fuses attached to them.<\/p>\n

The kids would light the fuses, hold the balls as long as possible, then throw them in the air, so they\u2019d appear like big fireworks, exploding in the sky.<\/p>\n

\"A
Enjoy fireworks from a safe distance. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One year, when Mike was 9, he held one of the balls too long and it exploded in his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was too slow. I got left with quite a few burns and I learned a tough lesson,\u201d said Mitchell who is now Dr. Mitchell<\/a>, an emergency medicine physician with UCHealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew better because my dad worked for the National Interagency Fire Center. He fought forest fires and we grew up with Smokey the Bear<\/a> and were very diligent about putting out our campfires,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

Learn from an ER doc’s fireworks safety mistakes as a boy<\/h2>\n

Mitchell still remembers not being able to sleep after that 4th<\/sup> of July because he was in so much pain. He suffered burns over his right hand and arm and all the way up to his neck and back.<\/p>\n

\"This
Mike Mitchell, dressed up as a doctor for Halloween when he was a boy, with his patient and twin brother. Mitchell is now an emergency room doctor. When he was young, he was injured by not following fireworks safety advice. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mike Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Mitchell is a little sheepish now about his past as a fireworks fan, he understands how seductive they can be. Still, he warns people to stay away. As an expert in emergency medicine, he\u2019s seen how dangerous they can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see everything from cuts to burns to serious injuries,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThe best way to protect yourself and your family is not to use fireworks at all, especially this year because it\u2019s such a dry year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell also admits that he and his twin brother once set a neighbor\u2019s hay bales on fire when they lit a smoke ball, hit it with a tennis racket and sent it exactly to the wrong location.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearn from my mistakes,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

Fireworks can cause major burns, severe eye injuries<\/h2>\n

Every year in the U.S., an average of 7 people die from injuries related to fireworks. In 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, more than 9,700 people were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to fireworks, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Fireworks safety tips<\/strong><\/p>\n