Bonfire Night - not quite the 4th of July

  • Published
  • By Bill Morrow
  • 501st Combat Support Wing chief of safety
RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom --  Back in the states there are a couple of times a year when fire works come out; New Years, Christmas, and July 4 to keep the list to a few. Here in the UK you'll also see some of those same events bring out fire works (not so much our July 4 for some reason) and one of those is right around the corner, Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes night also known as Bonfire Night. It is a celebration of an attempt to blow up a large part of the British government. 

The good news, fireworks, pretty. The bad news, not for you. Fire works are not allowed on the installation or in the off base military housing. Oh and the bonfire, not that either. It doesn't go over well with the fire department when they have to respond to a back yard that's looking like California in the middle of a dry summer. 

Like many parts of the states, the various levels of local county and city governments have taken a keen interest in supporting controlled events that safe guard the public and still enable them to share in a cultural event. A quick check in the local community news papers will yield a volume of locally staged events with games, vendors, food and activities leading up to the lighting of the bonfire and accompanying fireworks display. They are getting geared up for this and you're invited. 

It can be tempting, fireworks at the corner shop, the DIY, the news agent. That much accessible gun powder, just a few coin and a short arms length in reach away. But it's called temptation for a reason, it's usually not in your best interest, and that's the case here. Here's the safety bit, turn away now if you don't like data. The Center for Disease Control (they're involved in other things than the flu) had this to say: 

Who is most at risk for fireworks-related injuries? If you're a parent, one out of every three people injured were children under 15. About three times as many males were injured as females (is there a message here?) And young people under twenty sustained nearly half (47 percent) of all injuries from fireworks (sounds like a message to me). An estimated 5 percent of fireworks-related injuries treated in emergency departments required hospitalization 

What kinds of injuries occur? The body parts most often injured were hands (2,300 injuries), eyes (1,500 injuries), and the head, face, and ear (1,400 injuries). More than half of the injuries were burns. Burns were the most common injury to all body parts except the eyes and head areas, where contusions, lacerations and foreign bodies in the eye occurred more frequently. Fireworks can be associated with blindness, third degree burns, and permanent scarring. Fireworks can also cause life-threatening residential and motor vehicle fires. 

What types of fireworks are associated with most injuries? Firecrackers were associated with the greatest number of estimated injuries at 1,300. Let us not forget the toddlers. There were 1,000 injuries associated with sparklers and 800 associated with rockets. Sparklers accounted for one-third of the injuries to children less than 5 years of age. 

I've tried to take a light hearted approach, mixing humor with the warnings and realities of using an explosive, and make no mistake explosives are what fire works are. Nov 6 is a Friday, let us start the weekend off recovering from burns.