UW Health Experts offer firework safety advice for families

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Just in time for Fourth of July weekend, UW Health officials are offering advice to families to stay safe around the dangers of fireworks.

UW experts recommend giving children glow sticks instead of sparklers that can cause serious burns, although a designated adult should be supervising kids to make sure they are keeping a safe distance away from fireworks.

In fact, UW Health advises to stay away from fireworks altogether, and leave the shows and injury-risk to the professionals.

“Firework fuses tend to be pretty short and they burn pretty quickly but this doesn’t seem to stop some people from lighting one while still holding onto it and unfortunately just about any firework that detonates in the hand is going to pack enough energy to cause some damage” said UW Health Pediatric Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Greg Rebella.

Finally, experts recommend bringing earplugs or sound cancelling headphones to any firework shows for children to make the noise more tolerable.

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