The Fourth of July: Fireworks

This Fourth of July season is going to be a time of hanging with friends and family, going to the beach for some, and watching fireworks. Fireworks are a combination of highly reactive chemicals that, when lit, create amazing explosions of colors and designs in mid-air. Yes, fireworks are definitely fun to watch, and may be one of the best parts of the Fourth of July, but what happens when the accidental or the unexpected happen?

It's always fun when somebody in your neighborhood brings some cool fireworks that are big enough to be illegal, but what happens when there are no adults around? Maybe when adults are around, but aren't paying any attention on the firework that they are about to light on fire, which is going to fly a good amount of feet up into the air? Well, one of the most common accidents that you will hear about have headlines like "43 year-old man blew his thumb off while lighting a firework." This type of thing happens every Fourth of July season because the person lighting the firework has had too much to drink, or the college kid is too busy fooling around with his friends to notice that they are virtually lighting a bomb on fire, right underneath of them.

Another thing that happens that is not a good idea is when you live in a neighborhood that tends to have a lot of people with fireworks around the Fourth of July seasons. This is usually when competition sets in, and people start trying to light a string of bombs so their light show will last the longest. This is not good because, like the previous paragraph, people aren't paying attention, that the left side of their face is still hanging right over top of the fireworks that they just lit, while they are trying to light another firework, within a time span of about 5 to 10 seconds.

One more common mistake that I am going to talk about, is when the firework tips over, and shoots off through the feet of the pedestrians standing by. This, once again, usually happens because people are just not paying attention.

My advice, stick with the sparklers. There are always local firework shows going on in town, that are done by professionals. I would say to go watch their shows. Besides, their shows always have the best fireworks anyway!

If you do decide to go the go your own fireworks route, make sure that you have people watching standing far away, and make sure that you pay attention!