Welcome back to the City of Plantation Podcast. In this episode, Cary and I discuss some safety considerations when operating Fireworks, as wells as legal issues surrounding their use. This Podcast is aimed at keeping the residents of Plantation informed of events and important information happening throughout our city. Please subscribe to this podcast, as we will be producing new episodes weekly.
Hosts: BC Cary Blanchard and DC (Acting) Ezra Lubow
Produced by: Ezra Lubow
Music: Oakwood Station
Graphics: City of Plantation
Welcome back to the City of Plantation Podcast. In this episode, Cary and I discuss some safety considerations when operating Fireworks, as wells as legal issues surrounding their use. This Podcast is aimed at keeping the residents of Plantation informed of events and important information happening throughout our city. Please subscribe to this podcast, as we will be producing new episodes weekly.
Hosts: BC Cary Blanchard and DC (Acting) Ezra Lubow
Produced by: Ezra Lubow
Music: Oakwood Station
Graphics: City of Plantation
Welcome to the city of plantations podcast. I am Carrie Blanchard, battalion chief of public affairs for the plantation fire department. Thank you for tuning in our podcast is designed to keep you up to date on all the latest happenings and activities in about and around the city of plantation on our episodes. We talked directly with the leaders decision makers and the movers and shakers we'll make plantation the great city that it is
Speaker 2:Welcome back to our latest podcast episode. Since independence day is coming up soon, we thought we would discuss firework safety as Ray and I are here. And we're going to discuss things such as the new law that's in place and things that can, we can do to stay safe. So I figured we could start with the new law. Yeah, let's go over. So in April, governor Ronda Santas signed a bill that adds a little clarity to what you can do as far as fireworks are concerned.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because there was some confusion, right? We started off with this kind of wonky. If you're going to purchase fireworks for agricultural purposes, and then you had to sign this little form and I think pretty much everyone understood that this was like a work around
Speaker 2:A lie, correct? Correct. But he did fix it. And this year you are allowed to shoot fireworks on three specific days, July 4th, December 31st and January 1st, anything you can really shoot anything it's legal now.
Speaker 3:So it's not just the Publix and Walmart sparklers and the little snakes and not stuff like literally you can go out and buy mortars and bottle rockets and all that stuff. And on those three days, those can be legal to shoot them. Okay. All right. Very good. Well, that's adds a level of concern for the emergency services in the neighborhoods, correct? Of course. And the hospitals. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, just to go over some statistics, because in 2019, there were 12 people that died and over 10,000 injuries, people being treated in the hospitals. Wow. Yeah. And, uh, children younger than 15 years of age accounted for about 36%. Correct. So you wanna be safe ultimately is what it boils down to. Um, there's a couple of things we can do to keep safe, although people will do whatever they want to do at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:And a lot of people are gonna write. So I think there's two sides to the conversation, right? So a lot of people are going to say, listen, in countries all over the world, fireworks have been in play for celebration of various holidays and events for literally thousands of years. So, you know, what is it about American culture that precludes us from being able to do it? And I think that maybe perhaps a component of that is people who have never been around fireworks or explosives, because basically these are legal explosives in a way, and don't understand how to do it safely. And I think educating the public on how to do it safely is better than telling the public. You can never do it. Right. Which obviously the governor agreed with. So that's why we're here. So,
Speaker 2:Correct. I am going to say one thing before we get into the whole safety measure of this is I think by the end of the night of July 4th, it's nighttime. That's when people start doing this, people are celebrating all day. I do believe alcohol plays a part in this. As far as the safety is concerned, people are more, adults are more willing to let kids do things that they probably shouldn't. They probably wouldn't let them do. So people start getting foolish and silly and start doing things that even they know is wrong, but the alcohol lets them do it. But there are things like I said, that we can do.
Speaker 3:That's a good point not to cut you off, but we've talked about alcohol playing role in other things, right? Like jottings and heat emergencies most recently. So, you know, nut, no one would ever tell another adult, Hey, you shouldn't do this. But I think, uh, everything in moderation, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. There has to be a voice of reason somewhere. Yeah, exactly. Okay. All right. I mean, one thing you can do is keep water nearby. Okay. As you're shooting fireworks, if something doesn't fire correctly or doesn't catch it, whatever is you put it in water, it stops the process. I think a lot of injuries happen when people cover and say, Oh, it's not going off. And then it does go off and then that's becomes a problem.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So what, what kind of water like, are we talking about a bucket full of water, a garden hose? Uh, I mean maybe even a fire extinguisher, stuff like that, or
Speaker 2:I think it's just a bucket of water or a hose or something, but the idea is to stop the process of the flame. And there's there discuss in this list here that liked them the right way. There's something that's called the punk, which is a special type of smoldering stick, as opposed to using a flame, a flame is erratic and can, you know, the wind can affect it. There's many different things that can affect this. So if you, as a punk, like one at a time, one person does it, that it will protect. People will keep it safer.
Speaker 3:Plus the punk, which is it. If, if no one seen one before, it kind of looks like a stick of incense. So it gives you some distance, right? So you're not right there by the wick. You have a little bit of distance between the heat source and the WIC. And so, yeah, that's a protective measure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. All right, cool. It says to stay clear of failed fireworks, um, it's two things, there's a delayed reaction. And like I said earlier, people tend to want to say, Hey, what happened? Then it goes off. This is where the injuries occur. So you want to stay away from it for at least five minutes or stop the process. Like I said earlier, put it in the, in the water.
Speaker 3:Right. And actually that's a really good point because I have not responded throughout my career. I've not responded to very many incidents involving fireworks, but I think the worst one I did respond to was a gentleman who lit a bottle rocket. And it was a fast week. We've seen those before, like, you know, it goes by and, um, that was it. It didn't launch. So this particular person walked over and was inspecting it and it launched and hit him right in the face and then exploded and had some awful permanent eye injury and some significant facial trauma. So these are the type of things where we're trying to educate people on to avoid. Of course. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Cause this is permanent. These injuries affect your life forever. Absolutely. Um, another thing they say is to set off fireworks in an open, clear space so that there's not people around so that doesn't get trapped anywhere. So make sure that you're away from houses away from trees and things like that so that the firework can explode correctly. Right. Right. Absolutely. Never try to rely on a firework if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Call it a day. One done fireworks are expensive though. I'm sure people are like, man, I gotta get my money's worth. Yeah, well, no. We want to avoid that if possible. I know I discussed the surgery, but never lean your body over a firework when you're lighting it. Right. That's how injuries happen. Use the punk, you know, stay at a safe distance. Sure. And then supervise any children handling sparklers. Like I said earlier, like a lot of the 36% of the injuries last year where the children under 15. So you definitely want to supervise them at all times. Even if something seems benign or, you know, innocent, you just need to supervise them to watch them. Absolutely gotta watch what they're doing. And you want to wear protective eyewear because yes, like you said earlier, this is where that gentlemen was injured, permanent eye damage. And that's a tough one. And then if you're injured, get medical attention immediately. Obviously I know that were discussed earlier over 10,000 injuries last year. So the hospitals are busy around this time. So guess what you want to make sure you do that.
Speaker 3:And none of this has to be fancy. I mean, you can go to home Depot and buy a two to$3 pair of safety glasses that you would use for home construction, anything like that. Doesn't obscure your vision. It's very inexpensive. Most of the people who are going to be lighting off significant fireworks have probably already dropped a few hundred dollars at the very least on said fireworks. So we're not a pair of glasses. Yeah. Not going to hurt anybody in, in gloves. You know, it could be a standard work glove. It could be any type of gloves so that you have that level of protection. So you're not getting burned or, you know, having any of those issues. I wanted to circle back on their field. Fireworks. Is there a, is there a recommended time for, I liked the, the wick on it. It goes up. Nothing happens. Is there a recommended timeframe that I should think about before I approach that firework
Speaker 2:There's data here, five minutes, wait five, wait, five minutes and then soaking in water. When you take it, then you can soak after five minutes.
Speaker 3:So let that burn off happen or whatever it may be. Yeah. All right. The recommendations are very good. Anything else that we need to think about?
Speaker 2:I think that's it for safety. I just wanted to touch that just to remind everybody it's three days at, this is legal, July 4th, December 31st and January 1st. So all the other days leading up to these holidays, I know people tend to start lighting these fireworks and that's tough for a lot of people. I happen to be the owner of a dog. Who's very anxious and the minute she hears even a bottle rockets or a firecracker, that the one thing and she's freaking out and people, there are people that have PTSD that have mental issues, you know, mental health issues that also are affected by this there's loud noises that I think people need to consider and be have the courtesy to not detonate these things before those three holidays. I, like I said, having a dog I'm prepared on July 4th, I know what I need to do. But on a random day, in the middle of June, nobody's thinking about these things.
Speaker 3:Right? Right. And I think the other component to that you make very good points. The other component to that is people have to understand that to the average resident, the sound of fireworks and the sound of gunfire is indistinguishable. Correct. And you know, with everything going on in our country right now, people are a little bit more on edge, a little bit more concerned. So I think we just have to look out for each other and be considerate. Uh don't like these fireworks off outside of the timeframes that, that are acknowledged because no matter when you light the fireworks off the police department and the nine 11 centers are going to be inundated with phone calls for gunfire when realistically it's fireworks, but it happens every year. But we can cut down on that on the days that, you know, aren't acceptable days to fire off fireworks,
Speaker 2:Right. You don't have to tax our system that way for things that we, when they shouldn't be doing them.
Speaker 3:Right. Exactly. Alright. So some really good information presented again, our, our primary concern is to try and educate everybody, you know, have fun, uh, do the things that you normally do on 4th of July. It's a wonderful day to celebrate. It's a great American holiday. Uh, just do it safely and, uh, and respectfully to your neighbor and your fellow, uh, resident. Other than that, thank you for listening. We'll be back with another episode shortly next week. And, uh, that one's going to be pretty interesting as well. So have a great day. Happy 4th of July, everyone
Speaker 1:You've been listening to the city of plantation podcast restrict to bring your accurate and timely information. Please continue to tune in to our podcast episodes and also catch up with us on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and next door. If you have questions, send them to ask cityHall@plantation.org and we will answer your questions directly. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast and stay safe, everyone.