"The combination of alcohol with fireworks is very dangerous," said Dr. Nicole Kopari, CRMC Burn Medical Director. "So we do see a lot of people who are intoxicated, and when they're holding a firework or lighting off fireworks, they don't let go in time."
Dr. Nicole Kopari said they had at least 15 people treated in their outpatient clinic over the July Fourth week.
That's on the high end of their normal 10 to 15.
However, more severe injuries, which require hospital stays, were around average, with five people admitted into care.
"We are take currently taking care of a couple of patients right now that are going to end up losing their fingers, hopefully not their entire hand," said Kopari. "But like I said, even as devastating as losing, having a firework blow up in your face, where you're losing your eyes and potentially having the impact of being blind for the rest of your life."
These injuries can require the care of a team of doctors beyond the burn unit.
"They're like an IED has gone off and so when that happens, the force or the blast injury often causes fractures, soft tissue destruction," said Kopari. "It's busy for our plastic surgeons and the reconstructive surgeons. It's busy for our trauma surgeons. It's busy for our ophthalmologist and then again, for our hand surgeons or orthopedic surgeons."
Initial care is often provided by first responders, including American Ambulance.
Though burns aren't the most common injury first responders end up treating, said Ben Wiele.
"So fireworks smoke, it gets hotter, air is a little staler," said Wiele, American Ambulance spokesperson. "People who have asthma are susceptible to injury in that way. So being around a lot of fireworks, they'll call 911 we actually see more respiratory calls on July 4 than we do traumatic injury calls."
If you do get burned, Wiele said, don't hesitate to call.
"We can evaluate and we can talk about treatment options, which could include you taking yourself to the hospital," said Wiele.
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