County officials, UPMC burn center director demonstrate safety ahead of Fourth of July
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Representatives from UPMC Mercy's burn unit along with Allegheny County firefighters and members of the county's bomb squad demonstrated Thursday morning what could go wrong if safety is not a priority during your summer celebrations.
The main takeaway: be safe and think before you light anything.
Fireworks are a big part of summer celebrations, especially around the Fourth. Richard Painter, the commander of the Allegheny County Police Bomb Squad, says that one thing the public needs to know is that there is a big difference in store-bought fireworks and the ones that are homemade.
"The legal fireworks are regulated and manufactured in facilities and the illegal stuff is made clandestinely in people's basements and illegal factories. There is prosecution that happens with those. You can get charged with it and they are extremely dangerous and cause severe injury and or death related with those," Painter said.
Other safety demonstrations included showing the difference between how flammable certain materials are. Things like a nylon athletic shirt can burn faster than a plain regular cotton shirt.
And accidents can happen with common everyday things like gas grills. One big rule of thumb is to always keep the lid open on your grill when lighting it to avoid a gas build-up and potential explosion.
Dr. Jenny Ziembicki, the director of the burn center at UPMC Mercy, says that almost all of these types of injuries are preventable.
"Stop. Take a few minutes. Look at your surroundings and think about what you are doing before you proceed. Summertime, we all look forward to. It is a great time to enjoy many of the activities we traditionally associate with the summer. Camping, fireworks, all of those we really look forward to. And we want people to enjoy that and not end up in the hospital with really life-changing injuries."
So remember to think before you light anything.
