TULSA, Okla. — It's firework season, with thousands buying the fun and festive items come with related injuries. Tulsa burn centers said they're on standby if anyone gets injured.
The American Pyrotechnics Association said roughly 13,000 people a year get injured by fireworks. These injuries range from minor to even loss of limbs and deep burns.
Fireworks get up to 15 times hotter than the boiling point of water, with some forgetting that the heart of a firework is fire.
The Tulsa Fire Department posted, they respond to numerous fireworks-related injuries a year.
Registered nurse Jessica Pilgrim with the Alexander Burn Center told 2 News, burns are an injury that can keep giving.
"Do not ever think that it can't happen to you because it can and it will. The treatment for burns can be just something as simple as a topical dressing, send you home, come back once a week, all the way to admission on a ventilator, multiple surgeries, extensive healing and even death," said Pilgrim.
She said never trust a homemade firework and kids should be far away from any flames – including sparklers.
If you do shoot off fireworks, read the warnings on the boxes, make sure you're shooting them off of flat ground and have fire extinguishers nearby.
Pilgrim said this is the best way to avoid seeing her in the burn unit.
Another way to limit firework injuries is by leaving it to the professionals, going to one of the many fireworks shows around Green Country.
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