With the weather heating up, it can only mean one thing — Independence Day and firework season are just around the corner!
Before you plan ahead for all the summer festivities to come, CCHA is excited to participate in Firework Safety Month and discuss Indiana firework laws to ensure a safe, fun summer for all.
Indiana Firework Laws
Permitted fireworks:
Consumer fireworks that comply with the construction, chemical composition, and labeling regulations of the U.S. Consumer Products Commission.
Age to purchase:
18.
Location for use:
A special discharge location, property of the person, or property of a person who has provided permission.
When fireworks can be used in Indiana:
As far as when residents can light fireworks, Indiana allows for the activity every day of the year between the hours of 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., with an extended deadline of midnight July 4 and other holidays, such as Memorial Day, Labor Day and New Year’s Eve.
2019 Firework Statistics
via Consumer Product Safety Commission:
- Fireworks were involved with an estimated 10,000 injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during calendar year 2019 (95 percent confidence interval 7,100 – 12,900). The estimated rate of fireworks-related, emergency department-treated injuries in the United States is 3.1 per 100,000 individuals.
- Children younger than 15 years of age accounted for 36 percent of the estimated fireworks-related injuries. Similar to last year, nearly half of the estimated emergency department-treated, fireworks-related injuries were to individuals younger than 20 years of age.
- Children 0 to 4 years of age had the highest estimated rate of emergency department-treated, fireworks-related injuries (5.3 injuries per 100,000 people). Older teens, 15 to 19 years of age, had the second highest estimated rate (4.4 injuries per 100,000 people).
- There were an estimated 900 emergency department-treated injuries associated with sparklers and 400 with bottle rockets.
- There were an estimated 800 emergency department-treated injuries associated with firecrackers. Of these, an estimated 24 percent were associated with small firecrackers, 16 percent with large firecrackers, 3 percent with illegal firecrackers, and the remaining 57 percent were associated with firecrackers of an unspecified size.
- The parts of the body most often injured were hands and fingers (an estimated 30 percent); legs (an estimated 23 percent); eyes (an estimated 15 percent); head, face, and ears (an estimated 15 percent); and arms (an estimated 10 percent). • Fifty-eight percent of the emergency department-treated injuries were burns. Burns were the most common injury to hands, fingers, arms, and legs. • Approximately 87 percent of the victims were treated at a hospital emergency department and then released. An estimated 12 percent of patients were treated and transferred to another hospital, or admitted to the hospital.
Firework Safety Tips
- Never allow young children to handle fireworks
- Older children should use them only under close adult supervision
- Never use fireworks while impaired by drugs or alcohol
- Anyone using fireworks or standing nearby should wear protective eyewear
- Never hold lighted fireworks in your hands
- Never light them indoors
- Only use them away from people, houses and flammable material
- Never point or throw fireworks at another person
- Only light one device at a time and maintain a safe distance after lighting
- Never ignite devices in a container
- Do not try to re-light or handle malfunctioning fireworks
- Soak both spent and unused fireworks in water for a few hours before discarding
- Keep a bucket of water nearby to fully extinguish fireworks that don't go off or in case of fire
- Never use illegal fireworks
Contact CCHA with your Personal Injury needs
If you or a loved one have been injured in a fireworks accident, contact the Personal Injury attorneys at CCHA for legal partners you can trust. Our experienced team is here and available to help you move forward. In Hamilton County throughout the State of Indiana, and in a number of other states, CCHA has successfully litigated a wide variety of personal injury cases for our clients.
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