Officials, Victim See the Dark Side of Fireworks

For Dr. Bruce Achauer, July 4 isn’t much of a holiday.

The red-white-and-blue celebration usually conjures up images of flag-waving parade-goers, raucous beach parties and spectacular fireworks displays. But Achauer’s most enduring July 4 memories are of a preschooler who blew off his entire hand with a Mexican firecracker; a teen-ager who needed several skin grafts when fireworks exploded in his pocket; and people who have needed reconstructive surgery, because fireworks have started yards, homes and family members on fire.

“People just don’t understand they’re dealing with fire,” said Achauer, the director of the Burn Center at UCI Medical Center in Orange. “I don’t understand why people would want to have bombs and explosive things around their families.”

Despite the fact that fireworks are illegal in all but four Orange County cities, fireworks caused injuries to 21 county residents and 33 fires between June 17 and July 16 last year.

Nationwide, 12,932 fireworks-related injuries were reported in 1992, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Division.

Chris Valenta, 20, of Whittier had to go to the UCI Burn Center last year after he lit old firecrackers along with some gunpowder in a plastic-foam cup. The cup melted on his right thumb, leaving it covered with a three-quarter-inch-high blister. Flames burned his eyelashes and eyebrows.

“It felt like somebody was stretching the skin on my thumb and trying to rip it from the top,” Valenta said.

Firecrackers, sparklers, M-80s, Roman candles, bottle rockets and explosives are outlawed in California, and all approved fireworks must bear the state fire marshal’s “safe and sane” seal.

Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove and Santa Ana are the only cities where residents can buy and set off “safe and sane” fireworks, and town residents must only use them on their private property.

Anaheim residents Catherine Gallaher, 45, and her son Kohn, 9, sat on a curb in front of the Old Glory Fireworks stand in Costa Mesa a few days ago, lamenting the fact that their city does allow them.

“It takes the heart out of the Fourth,” she said. “It used to bring neighborhoods together because everyone was out in their front yards setting them off.”

Patrons of the fireworks stand agreed that since the ban, people buy fireworks in places like Mexico, where they are legal and often more volatile, and then set them off in out-of-sight locations such as back yards, where trees and shrubs often catch fire more easily.

Fireworks Safety

Discharging fireworks is prohibited everywhere in Orange County except in Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Garden Grove. Some fireworks dos and don’ts:

DO

* Store fireworks in a cool, dry place not accessible to youngsters.

* Avoid rough handling.

* Supervise children discharging fireworks.

* Light fireworks only outdoors in a clear area away from anything that might catch fire.

* Keep water handy.

* Light one fireworks at a time, then move away to a safe distance.

* Douse fizzled fireworks with water, soak and discard them. Don’t relight.

* Buy fireworks only from vendors operating from sites open to local, state and federal inspectors. Items they sell should be clearly marked Class C Common Fireworks, list the maker and come with instructions for safe use.

DON’T

* Light fireworks in bottles or cans.

* Cut apart fireworks.

* Add ingredients to fireworks.

* Attempt to make pipe bombs.

DID YOU KNOW?

* In 1992, fireworks injured 21 people in a single month, and ignited 91 fires in Orange County over the course of the year.

* M-80, Ashcan, Cherry Bomb, Silver Salute and Quarterstick are some of the street names for illegal explosive devices. * M-80s are often sold in bags of six dozen. Each bag equals a stick of dynamite and can demolish a room.

* Heat, friction or pressure can detonate these “touchy” illegal explosives.

* People trafficking in illegal explosive devices can go to federal prison for 10 years. Some traffickers have been tried for murder.

Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, California state fire marshal;

Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times