Doctors, firefighters caution against fireworks-related injuries, uptick of house fires ahead of July 4

Fireworks safety this Fourth of July

Tampa Bay area firefighters and doctors are sharing their top safety tips if you’re lighting fireworks for July 4. FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo reports.

TAMPA - Shooting off your own fireworks can be fun, but it doesn’t take much for the lightshow to become a nightmare.

We see injuries that happen not only from those fireworks that shoot up in the sky, but you can see injuries happen from sparklers or fireworks that you'd buy at the local drug store.  

The backstory:

Dr. Patrick Mularoni, a pediatric emergency medicine physician with Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, said they often see children coming to the emergency room because of sparklers.

"So, what I tell families is to, when you're going to be using sparklers, make sure that your elbow is locked so that your arm is straight out in front of you. And make sure you're staying in one spot. There's no running around with sparklers because you could get burned," said Mularoni.

Firefighters are reminding you not to ignite anything else, and always have a bucket of water or a hose nearby to put fireworks out.

"We have seen structure fires, residential structure fires, an uptick on them in the last couple of years from folks who thought they cooled them enough, they put them in a box or something, in the garbage in the garage and let thing you know they weren’t cooled and the next thing you know your house is on fire," said Rob Herrin, the public safety information chief with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

Dig deeper:

Fireworks leave a lot of debris and trash to clean up, especially when people set them off in open public spaces.

"One of the biggest ones would be Ben T. Davis and the Courtney Campbell Causeway," said Allan Antolik, the deputy director of Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.

Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful also cleans up on Davis Islands and Cypress Point Park. This July 4th, they said the Ben T. Davis parking lot will be closed, and the causeway will be open. But both were closed last year, and Antolik said that made a big difference.

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"I think we had around 500 pounds, but that was mixed trash as well from just people being out there. In years past, it has been five times that amount with what's left behind," said Antolik.

This time around, rain could make cleanups more challenging.

"It becomes an issue because rain usually comes with wind and the rain itself will push things down into waterways, and it's able to get out into the water a lot faster than what you would normally see," said Antolik. "You just don't have the time to pick it up like you would in the past."

What's next:

Cleanup volunteers said they’re going to try and get out to those common trash spots fast, so it doesn’t end up polluting local waterways.