CONSUMER ALERT

MIKE COX
 ATTORNEY GENERAL
 

The Attorney General provides Consumer Alerts to inform the public of unfair, misleading or deceptive business practices, and to provide information and guidance on other issues of concern.

Fireworks

What you don't know can burn you.

With the Fourth of July and other celebrations that occasion the use of fireworks, we should all promote fireworks safety.

In 1998 alone, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that more than 8,500 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with fireworks. Approximately 55 percent of the fireworks-related injuries were burns, and most of the burns involved the hands, eyes and head. Nearly 40 percent of the victims were under 15 years of age. A CPSC study found that firecrackers, rockets, and sparklers caused the bulk of emergency room-treated injuries.

The obvious first step in promoting safety is to encourage everyone to abide by the law. In Michigan, certain fireworks are legal and the public may purchase them without a permit. Certain other kinds of fireworks, however, are illegal or require special permits that allow pyrotechnic experts to do the spectacular public fireworks displays we enjoy at fairs and special occasions. The State Fire Marshal has prepared a list that makes it easy for consumers to distinguish legal fireworks from illegal fireworks.

LEGAL FIREWORKS (No Permit Required).

• Flat paper caps

• Toy trick noisemakers (party poppers, pop-its, fun snaps, toy pistols).

• Sparklers

• Filter Sparklers (a narrow paper tube attached to a thin wooden handle producing a shower of sparks).

• Fountains that are cone shaped or cylindrical shaped that emit a shower of sparks and sometimes a whistle effect.

• Toy Snakes (a pressed pellet that produces a large snake-like ash upon burning).

• Toy Smoke Devices (smoke bombs, smoke pots, smoke grenades, smoke balls, etc. that produce white or colored smoke).

• Signal flares, blank cartridges or blank cartridge pistols, and railroad emergency signal devices.

• The sale of fireworks provided they are to be shipped directly out of state. (Dealers may not sell fireworks in Michigan using signed statements that the purchaser will use the fireworks out of state).

Fireworks that do not fit the above exceptions are illegal for sale, use, or transportation without a permit. Violators are guilty of a misdemeanor.

Helpful Hint: If it makes a loud bang or leaves the ground, it is illegal.

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL FIREWORKS IN MICHIGAN (This List Is Not All-inclusive).

• Cherry Bomb - A small red sphere approximately 1" in diameter.

• Comet (or Mine) - A cylinder containing a star and attached to a wooden base. Upon ignition the star is thrust 50-100 feet in the air and continues to glow as it falls to the ground.

• Firecracker - A small noisemaking cylinder up to 1.5" in length, often strung together with a fuse.

• M-80 - Up to 2" in length, usually a red cylinder with a fuse coming out the side.

• Bottle Rockets - A cylinder, frequently topped by a cone to stabilize its flight, attached to a long stick.

• Roman Candles - A 6-12" tube containing alternating layers of compacted black power that shoots single stars out the top when lighted.

• Silver Salute (M-100) - A silver cylinder with a fuse coming out of the side containing large quantities of flash powder.

• M-250 and M-1000 (quarter stick) -Large versions of the M-80 and M-100 that have extremely high risk factors for crippling and disfiguring injuries.

• Torch - A 6-12" tube filled with colored material and ending in a handle. When ignited, streams of colors come out of the top of the tube.

A firework that spins or twirls is a "wheel" and thus is neither a "cylindrical fountain" nor a "cone fountain." The sale, offer for sale, use or possession of these "wheel" type devices is prohibited in Michigan.

If you are traveling, I caution you that ten states ban all consumer fireworks (Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont) while six other states (Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) only allow sparklers and/or other novelties.

Know and obey the law so that we may all celebrate safely.