Experts discuss fireworks safety before next week’s holiday

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – In preparation for the Fourth of July next week, a fire prevention officer and fireworks expert discussed Thursday how to safely set off and dispose of them.

When it comes to fireworks, Lt. Thomas Donadee, a fire prevention officer, says things tend to go wrong when there isn’t a responsible adult handling them.

“Maybe alcohol becomes involved or children become involved in setting off fireworks and those are probably the two biggest concerns that we have,” Lt. Donadee said.

Fireworks should also be set off at a safe distance from people and buildings.

“Understand that you’re dealing with things that burn and combust,” said Gregg Smith with Phantom Fireworks. “Typically for the smaller stuff, they can be within 50 feet or around 50 feet away. For the aerial stuff that goes up in the air, we want people to be back about 150 feet.”

They recommend having things like buckets of water, a fire extinguisher, and a hose close by and ready to go in case something goes wrong. Smith says they also advise the person setting off the fireworks to wear eye protection.

“We have personal protective equipment, eyeglasses, gloves, buckets, water hoses, nozzles — you name it, we have everything available to them for safety,” he said.

Smith says not to bring debris from fireworks near your house until you douse them with water.

“They could smolder or re-combust overnight so it’s a very good idea to keep the debris from the fireworks away from your house or any structure,” he said.

He said the next day the fireworks could then be bagged and thrown away with their municipal garbage.

With the law that went into effect in 2022, people can legally set off fireworks in Ohio from the third through the fifth of July and the weekend before and after the holiday unless limited by your local laws.

Smith says this law change has increased fireworks sales in Ohio but Lt. Donadee says the law has reduced the number of fireworks-related calls they’ve had to respond to since not as many people are setting them off illegally now.

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