Fireworks Safety Tips from Indiana Departmet of Homeland Security

With the Fourth of July holiday quickly approaching, now might be a good time to review some safety tips from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Despite warnings of a national fireworks shortage that were reported earlier this year, Independence Day celebrations will be happening all across the country this weekend both with big city displays and at backyard barbeques.

In the state of Indiana, fireworks can be legally and lawfully set off most days between the hours of 9 am - 11 pm, excluding holidays but this can vary by individual town, city, or county as those smaller government bodies can create and enforce their own ordinances. (See rules for City of Evansville here).

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That being said, there are some dates and times that are not subject to local ordinances including,

• June 29th - July 3rd between the hours of 5 pm and 2 hours after sunset.
• July 4th between 10a and 12 Midnight.
• July 5th - July 9th between 5 pm and 2 hours after sunset.
• New Years Eve between 10 am and 1 am (Jan 1st)

If you plan to take in a public fireworks show, we've got a list of all of the ones happening in the Tristate for 2021.

Obviously, if you and your family are planning to participate in the backyard barbeque fireworks, you will want to do everything you can to keep everyone safe. According to The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and shared by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, men are more likely to be injured by fireworks. In 2019, 66% of the reported injuries were from men. Some additional eye-opening statistics involving fireworks injuries include,

• About half of the estimated emergency department-treated fireworks injuries happened to people younger than 20 years old, and 36 percent of fireworks injuries were to children younger than 15 years old.
• Injuries due to sparklers accounted for about 900 trips to the emergency room; firecrackers, 800; and bottle rockets, 400.
• The most common body parts injured were hands and fingers (30 percent), legs (23 percent), eyes (15 percent) and head, face and ears (15 percent).
• About 58 percent of fireworks injuries were burns.

Needless to say, safety needs to be just as high on your priority list as the fun is this July 4th. So to help keep you, your friends and your family safe this holiday, be sure you keep scrolling to read some safety tips from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

[Source: Indiana DHS]