DAYTON — Medical experts are warning people to be safe while celebrating the Fourth of July this weekend.
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Safety precautions are vital to ensure celebrations are successful, with experts advising maintaining distance from fireworks and keeping them out of children’s hands.
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This call for vigilance comes as many individuals, like Drexel resident Tyler Boesnberg, are shooting off their own fireworks for the holiday.
Dr. Alice Fagin, a burn surgeon at Shriners Children’s Ohio, said proper safety measures are key to enjoyable celebrations.
Boesnberg is preparing for his family’s eighth annual Fourth of July party.
He estimates that he spent around $1,000 on this year’s display.
“Today it was around $700 or so; that’s probably all in about a $1,000 every year on fireworks. Which, if you’ve been in the store, it doesn’t take much to get there,” Boesnberg said.
Boesnberg said he makes sure there is plenty of room between the fireworks and spectators at his party.
“We’re lucky enough to have a little bit of land and we have all of our friends and family over. You know and it’s a good time. It’s our eighth year, I think, doing it,” Boesnberg said.
He prefers “box stuff” for his annual displays.
“They’re different every year, so I don’t really have any favorites. We tend to stick to the box stuff; it’s a little bit safer, it’s one light, and you get, you know, and it puts on a really good show,” Boesnberg said.
Fagin said people setting off fireworks should have a water source readily available to extinguish them.
“You need to have some kind of water source to put things out. No fireworks should ever be set off in someone’s hand, you know; always have them elsewhere and get away from those fireworks as quickly as you can,” Fagin said.
She also warns against children handling any type of fireworks, including sparklers. She points out the extreme heat sparklers generate.
“The problem with that is that a sparkler burns at more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. So you think about it, you can burn yourself at 100 degrees; 2,000 is significantly higher,” Fagin said.
Boesnberg tells his children that fireworks are for adults to set off, so they can enjoy the show from a safe distance.
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