Emergency services warning – you will be injured by fireworks

Do not stick rockets in the ground or snow.

Do not use loose bottles.

Never hold them in your hand.

– Every year between 400-500 people are injured as a result of fireworks. It is almost exclusively boys and men who are injured, the rescue service writes on its website.

Fireworks are loved by the Swedish people and huge amounts of pyrotechnics are set off every New Year’s Eve.

Unfortunately, there are also many people who are injured by fireworks because they handle them in the wrong way.

– Never hold fireworks in your hand when you light the stub and don’t lean over a lit piece of fireworks, writes the rescue service in Bergslagen on their website, where they posted instructions for a safe and successful fireworks night.

Prohibited under 18

In Sweden, it is forbidden for people under the age of 18 to handle fireworks for outdoor use.

You also need a permit to fire stick rockets, as well as high-bang firecrackers.

A classic mistake many stick rocket shooters make is to push them down into the ground or snow, causing them to topple over and detonate among houses and people.

– Rockets have the greatest power at the moment of launch. Rockets that are stuck too tightly or too tightly in the launch pad can have the wrong trajectory, writes the rescue service.

The same applies when the rocket is in a loose bottle that tips over.

– If a faulty rocket, dud, explodes on the ground when fired from a glass bottle, you can get a powerful fragmentation bomb that sends dangerous glass shards a great distance.

Blinds can also explode long after being lit.

– Some fireworks have, in addition to the normal stub, also the quick stub. The fast tube must be hidden and have a warning text. If a piece breaks or opens past the warning and someone accidentally lights the quick-fire tube, an instantaneous ignition takes place, warns the emergency services.

The most common injuries from fireworks are hearing, sight, burns and hand injuries.

– If only the thumb and little finger remain, we still have the grip function, tweezer grip. Without a thumb, we have no grip, writes the rescue service about the lifelong injuries.

May cause fires

But it’s not just people who get hurt.

– Fireworks can cause fires if they enter apartments, end up on balconies or land on flammable material.

This is what the emergency services think you should do if you want to have a good and safe experience.

– Make a launch pad for the rockets and prop them up properly so they can’t tip over. For example, use an upside-down drinking tray. The rocket must stand steady but run freely. For larger rockets, you make a launch ramp out of, for example, a saw trestle that is fitted with loops where the rocket sticks can run freely.

Large pieces standing on the ground should preferably be placed in a pit to prevent them from tipping over.

– Keep in mind that both people and animals can be frightened by unexpected light and sound effects. one writes.

And last but not least:

– Always have a hand fire extinguisher or other extinguishing equipment available at the firing point, writes the rescue service.