COUNTYWIDE : Statewide Ban on Sparklers Expected

In an effort to reduce injuries from fireworks on the Fourth of July, the State Fire Marshal’s office has proposed a ban on the sale of sparklers, which last year were responsible for 32% of those injuries statewide.

The proposal, recommended by American West Marketing, a Santa Ana-based firm that controls 97% of legal fireworks sales in California, is expected to be adopted and to become a regulation on June 27, a day before so-called “safe and sane” fireworks may legally be sold, said Sandy Simpson, a spokeswoman for the State Fire Marshal.

Sparklers produce a shower of sparks from a wire-core stick that burns for about a minute. Simpson said fire departments reported 195 fireworks injuries in 1989 and 1990. Of those, 62, or 32%, were caused by sparklers.

“We had a range of injuries from contact burns to sparklers being stepped on,” Simpson said. “We also get trouble when people throw the sparklers.”

Simpson said that although they look harmless, sparklers are dangerous. They burn at temperatures ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

State law stipulates that only those 16 years or older can buy fireworks, but, Simpson said, children often end up playing with the sparklers in an unsupervised setting.

“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,” Simpson said.