CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Fourth of July Loses Its Sparklers

Sparklers, the Fourth of July fireworks popular with children, will not be sold legally in California this year because they cause too many injuries, the state fire marshal’s office said. American West Marketing, a Santa Ana firm, has voluntarily ceased selling sparklers through its fireworks companies. The firm controls 97% of legal fireworks sales in California and sparklers are its biggest-selling item. The state fire marshal’s office revised the fireworks regulations this year and a new version that bans sparklers from the list of approved fireworks--known as “safe and sane”--is awaiting approval by the Office of Administrative Law. Fire marshal’s spokeswoman Sandy Simpson said sparklers caused 62 of 195 burn injuries blamed on safe and sane fireworks in 1989 and 1990. “We had classified them as safe and sane, but statistics showed that of the legal fireworks, sparklers cause the most injuries, mostly in children through contact burns. More than half the total injuries happened to children under 10,” she said. If the ban is approved, sparklers will be banned in California effective June 27, the day before the official start of the fireworks selling season, a spokeswoman for the fire marshal said.