Metro Officials Report Four Injuries Related To Fireworks

Some Oklahomans are recovering Monday evening from injuries caused by fireworks.

Children and teens are most often the ones hurt and this July 4 kept Oklahoma City's emergency responders busy all weekend.

Oklahoma City Police report responding to nearly 800 firework-related calls in about a 24-hour time frame beginning Saturday. An EMSA official says they saw their calls spike after dark.

“Not every Fourth of July, but occasionally we get one or two injuries here or there. This year just in the matter of one hour we had four injuries,” said Joe Wallace, EMSA spokesperson.

Wallace says the department is relieved the chaos from the Fourth of July holiday is over. Within an hour Saturday night medics took four people to the hospital for firework related injuries. One involved a child.

“We had one that was a pretty good burn to the face. One that was a lower extremity injury that was probably our most critical case of the evening,” said Wallace.

Despite the dangers of fireworks, few people understand the associated risks - devastating burns, other injuries, fires, and even death. Most of the time paramedics treat burns to the hand as a result of people mishandling fireworks while lighting them.

Wallace says there is a reason fireworks go "boom".

“Nothing is safe. Everything you’re dealing with there is an explosive reaction happening and there's chemicals and those are things that are just not safe,” he said.

Wallace says it's possible some of these injuries were the result of alcohol coupled with explosives.

While firework-related injuries kept medics busy, Oklahoma City's Fire Department only responded to a handful of firework-related incidents; a much slower night than previous years.

“I think the recent rains that we've had, and the fact that everything has been so green, I think that really helped us a lot this year,” said Chief Benny Fulkerson, Oklahoma City Fire Department.