A 42 year old woman suffered serious hand injury while playing with pyrotechnics in New York City, the night before July 4th. According to the police, she may have lost one or two fingers. The accident happened in Flatbush, Brooklyn around 5:00 am. The woman was transported to the ER to be treated. Read more in the NY Daily News
According to the CPSC, firework accidents kill an average of 7 people every year in the US. In its recently published 2015 fireworks annual report the CPSC reported 11 deaths related to firework accidents last year. 9 of them were related to re-loadable aerial devices and 2 of them to homemade fireworks. An estimated 11,900 people were brought to the ER last year in the US after they injured themselves when handling fireworks. Among them 8,000 were injured between June 29th and July 29th. 61%,of the patients treated in the ER for fireworks injuries were male patients with many of them young adults and children. Sparklers caused 1,900 injuries, firecrackers 1,200 and bottle rockets 800. Most injuries were burn injuries. A third of the injuries were hand and finger injuries, a quarter of them were head, face and ear injuries. Eyes injuries account for 16%, legs 15% and arms 4%. 85% of the patients treated for fireworks injuries didn’t require hospitalization.
