We’re celebrating with more fireworks these days but hurting ourselves less in the process.

Annual fireworks-related injuries declined 38 percent in the United States since 1990, according to safety groups. Meanwhile, the use of fireworks climbed from 67.6 million pounds to 190.1 million pounds over the same period.

Maine is one of seven states that only allows sparklers and bans all other consumer fireworks, but officials here still urge caution.

Fireworks sold in New Hampshire have a way of making it across the border, they note, and even sparklers, which are legal in Maine, send families to the emergency room.

An analysis of fireworks-related injuries nationwide in 2002 found that most were caused by sparklers or firecrackers; two-thirds of the injuries involved burns. About half of the injuries to children under 5 were caused by sparklers.

Maine Fire Marshal John Dean said sparklers can burn both users and bystanders. Most parents do not realize that the temperature of a sparkler can reach 1,800 degrees and remain hot after they have burned out, he said.

Fireworks can result in severe burns, scars and disfigurement that can last a lifetime, Dean said.

“We’ve been lucky we have not seen a lot of fireworks-related injuries, but the ones we do see are truly devastating,” said Dr. David Stuchiner, director of emergency medicine at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

He said there has been loss of fingers and eyes in some cases.

In cases involving sparklers, the results are not as tragic in comparison to general fireworks, he said, but there have been people burned and injuries to eyes.

During this year’s Independence Day celebrations, Dean said he will have investigators working during the Fourth of July week enforcing Maine’s fireworks laws. Investigators will be working at public gatherings looking for individual fireworks violations.

Dean strongly recommended people avoid any function where fireworks may be used illegally or by amateurs.

Injuries decline

The fireworks-related injuries have declined from an estimated 12,000 in 1990 to 8,800 in 2002, according to sources including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Of the 8,800 injuries reported last year, an estimated 5,700 of them occurred around the Fourth of July.

The commission’s data is not broken down into individual states to determine what Maine’s rate of injury is, but Dean said he may have a better handle on those figures with statistics to be kept at his office in the future. Now data is sent to a company that compiles it.

His unit sends out letters to hospitals to document fireworks-related injuries, but since it is voluntary, not all send back the information.

Stuchiner said he has scanned a copy of Dean’s form into the hospital’s internal Web site used by doctors.

Data is also collected by fire departments, with about 100 of the most populated places out of 400 communities submitting information.

Dean said he has seen an increase in improvised explosive devices where people are making their own fireworks since 1998.

In favor of ban

He also said that he is in favor of banning sparklers in Maine and plans to work with state legislators to bring that about. “My concern is children getting hurt,” Dean said.

Stuchiner said sparklers are a fire hazard as well as cause injuries, and he would be in favor of Dean’s move to ban them.

Dean, a member of several national and state organizations, said six groups – American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, International Fire Marshal’s Association, National Association of State Fire Marshals and National Fire Protection Association – have joined together to call for a ban on consumer fireworks use.

dperry@sunjournal.com