Local hospitals say July Fourth fireworks injuries were minimal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The weekend after July Fourth is bound to bring more fireworks which has doctors and first responders continuing to remind community members to use them safely.

“Now is the summer season, especially in celebration of July Fourth, people are using fireworks more. Our main causes of injuries are usually individuals who are not as familiar with using fireworks," said Dr. Angel Li, an emergency medicine doctor at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC).

Fireworks can be fun but they can also be dangerous. Li said her team has dealt with some fireworks related injuries this week.

“A little. I think this year, knock on wood, everyone's been pretty mindful and I do think actually the rain is a huge contributing factor in terms of people being out and about and setting off fireworks on their own. It's less," she said.

OSUWMC does not specifically track fireworks injuries but Li said based on conversations she's had, numbers are down from last year. Dr. Ben Bring, a family and sports medicine physician with OhioHealth, said that system has also not seen an increase. He urged safety heading into the weekend.

“Burns are by far the most common thing they’ll see. So I think understanding what the fireworks are and how to shoot them off safely, making sure your kids aren't around, those are probably the most important things," he said. 

A spokesperson for Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) told NBC4 the team saw a "small handful of minor fireworks-related injuries over the holiday week." On the first responder side, Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter with the Columbus Division of Fire said it seems people are listening to the advice.

“No significant fires from fireworks over these last few days which is encouraging. Again, people heeded our warnings. Couple small grass fires, maybe one vehicle fire, but nothing of significance and really no big injuries that we’ve seen," he said. "It's always an accident when it happens, right, no one plans to have somebody get hurt and so we see this all the time and we just want people to be thoughtful ahead of time, take those precautionary measures."