The Orange County Fire Authority set off five explosives to show the dangers of illegal fireworks, a week before first responders expect to be hit with an influx of calls around the Fourth of July holiday.
Across the country, fireworks cause around 18,000 fires and send more than 10,000 people to the emergency room each year on the holiday. In Orange County, 911 calls almost triple over the holiday weekend, officials said.
On Tuesday, fire officials aimed fireworks at watermelons and two mannequins. One child-sized mannequin wearing a blue sundress was torn apart by the blast of a homemade firework. The Sheriff Department urged residents not to buy illegal fireworks or attempt to construct their own.
Using illegal fireworks, residents can mistakenly light a fast-burning fuse, which contains almost 1,000 times more flash power than a legal firecracker, Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Wigginton said. The fuse could ignite instantly and “remove their hand from the elbow down,” he warns.
He said the department has seized 5,200 pounds of illegal fireworks in the last month and expects to confiscate thousands more by July 4. A confiscated firework comes with a $1,000 fine.
Dr. Andrea Dunkelman, medical director of the Orange County Burn Center, said she has already seen burn injuries leading up to the holiday weekend. If a minor burn injury does occur, Dunkelman advises residents not to apply ice, but instead rinse the burn with room temperature water and seek the nearest burn center. For serious burn injuries, she said to call 911 immediately.
“(Patients) have some minor injuries and some serious injuries, but all these injuries cause pain, suffering. They’re going to need wound care, and they could leave permanently disabled,” Dunkelman said. “You know it all starts out great, everybody’s happy, and it ends horribly.”
Dunkelman stressed that residents should never let children touch fireworks. She says sparklers alone send over 700 people to the emergency room, burning at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt metal. Firecrackers cause another 800 visits.
“People come in and they’ve tried this firecracker that’s illegal, and they’ve lost their hand.” Dunkelman said. “It seems like no big deal, you’ve got a firecracker, but for the rest of your life you have no hand.”
Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said incidents are preventable if residents don’t buy illegal fireworks and take precautions if using the so-called safe and sane fireworks that are state fire marshal-approved and allowed in a dozen Orange County cities, with the addition of Orange this year. Residents should have a bucket of water or a hose nearby, not attempt to relight a “dud” firework, and not handle fireworks while intoxicated.
“We do these [demonstrations] year after year after year. And then like clockwork on the Fourth of July we get the countless 911 calls of distraught community members reporting a fire, an injury, or a death due to fireworks,” Fennessy said.
The Orange County Fire Authority urged residents to celebrate the holiday by seeing one of the many firework shows offered around Orange County that are operated by professionals.
“To be clear, we at the OCFA are not here to deprive you of celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks,” Fennessy said. “We just ask that you do it legally, safely, and responsibly.”