Pembroke firefighters were met by exploding fireworks as they worked to put out a car fire Sunday afternoon.
As Granite Staters prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks, safety officials are once again reminding people to use caution – or leave the pyrotechnics to professionals.
The Pembroke blaze began when the vehicle’s owner lit a sparkler near the car’s hatch and a spark ignited the load of fireworks inside. Firefighters were able to put the fire out, and nobody was hurt.
Others weren’t so lucky. Just this weekend, one person suffered an eye injury in Dunbarton, and another sustained facial burns in Tilton, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal J. William Degnan said.
Over a two-year period between 2012 and 2014, the state recorded 51 people sent to the emergency room because of fireworks-related injuries, Degnan said.
“And that is underreported because people generally seek care from their primary care physicians or the urgent care facilities,” he said.
Firecrackers, which were legalized this year, and fireworks with reloadable mortars are most often the cause of injuries, he said. But all fireworks are inherently dangerous and can get people hurt, Degnan said.
“Sparklers may seem small, but they burn at 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said.
Degnan has been with the state’s fire safety division for more than thirty years. He said the number of injuries don’t seem to be going up, but that with bigger, more powerful explosives legal in the state, the injuries do seem to be getting “more traumatic every year.”
He recommended people maintain a safe distance by follow instructions on the packaging when igniting or watching firework displays. But the best option, he said, was to put the lighters down.
“The safest show is to go and watch the professional show,” he said.
(Lola Duffort can be reached at 369-3321 or lduffort@cmonitor.com.)