Fire Prevention

Fireworks

Summer is the time for exciting summer events, such as picnics, outdoor concerts and relaxing at the beach. Unfortunately, summer is also the time when the use of illegal fireworks increase. According to the Consumer Protection Agency, between 8,000 and 10,000 people will suffer injuries from fireworks. Half of the victims are under the age of 15. Over half the injuries were burns and most of the injuries involved the hands, eyes and head. People are injured from legal and illegal fireworks.

LEGAL CONSUMERS FIREWORKS IN MICHIGAN (formerly Class C)

• Flat Paper Caps
• Toy Snakes
• Fountains (Cone or Cylinder Shape)
• Poppers (Toy Trick Noise Makers)
• Sparklers
• Flitter Sparklers
• Toy Smoke Device (Smoke Bombs)

ILLEGAL CONSUMERS FIREWORKS IN MICHIGAN (formerly Class C)

• Firecrackers
• Missile Type Rockets
• Bottle Rockets
• Sky Rockets
• Aerial Spinner or Helicopter
• Roman Candles
• Comets or Mines
• A Wheel
• Ground Spinner Devices
• Jumping Jacks
• AND MANY OTHERS NOT LISTED HERE!

Saginaw police, fire and code officials confiscate contraband fireworks

by Gus Burns | The Saginaw News
Wednesday July 01, 2009, 4:38 PM

Saginaw officials filled the bed of a pickup and then some with illegal fireworks confiscated from two locations on Mackinaw in Saginaw today.

"Anything that's fun is pretty much illegal," said Saginaw Fire Department Fire Marshal Gregory A. Barton.

Barton said all firework vendors receive a list of what is legal and not legal when they apply for a license to sell. If it "moves, flies, or makes a loud boom," it's probably on the illegal list, he said.

The first seizure was at Kuli's Korner, 2425 Mackinaw In Saginaw, owned by David M. Kuligowski, 45, of Saginaw. He said police took a couple boxes.

"I had some things that spin on the front counter that I didn't know were illegal," he said.

In the back, he stored two boxes of mostly firecrackers and bottle rockets, which he planned to light July 4 with his family, he said.

Kuligowski said he kept them at the store because he didn't want his teenage kids to get into them.

Officials confiscated a larger stash -- it filled up more than the bed of a fire department pickup -- from a residence near 512 Mackinaw, where there is a tent that sells legal fireworks, said Barton. The illegal fireworks were inside a nearby residence that was in "cahoots" with the tent operation, Barton said.

The tent owner said the wholesale cost of the seized fireworks is about $1,000 and he bought them in Michigan.
Barton, who performed the seizure with the Saginaw Code Enforcement Neighborhood Improvement Cooperative, a group of fire, police and code enforcement officials who work in conjunction with neighborhood watch groups, said illegal fireworks pose a threat to personal safety and create fire hazards.

He said watch groups filed the complaints against the two locations they apprehended today.

"They don't take cars off the road because someone was decapitated once," said the owner of the tent on Mackinaw, who asked not to be named. "A certain amount of common sense goes along with using fireworks."

Officials said they plan to maintain pressure on vendors of illegal fireworks until the end of the summer.

 

 

REMEMBER , IF IT LEAVES THE GROUND,
MAKES A LOUD NOISE, SPINS OR TWIRLS,
IT IS ILLEGAL

To help consumers use fireworks more safely, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers these recommendations:

• Do not allow young children to play with fireworks under any circumstances. Sparklers, considers by many the ideal "safe" firework for the young, burn at very high temperatures and can easily ignite clothing. Children cannot understand the danger involved and cannot act appropriately in case of emergency.
• Older children should only be permitted to use fireworks under close adult supervision. Do not allow any running or horseplay.
• Light fireworks outdoors in a clear area away from houses, dry leaves or grass, and flammable materials.
• Keep a bucket of water nearby for emergencies and for pouring on fireworks that don't go off.
• Do not try to relight or handle malfunctioning fireworks. Douse and soak them with water and throw them away.
• Be sure other people are out of range before lighting fireworks.