Medical professionals urge caution using fireworks over 4th of July weekend

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- With the holiday weekend just days away, medical professionals are urging folks to be careful around fireworks, as burn centers get busy around this time of year.

According to Ascension Columbia St. Mary's hospital, about 11,500 Americans were hurt or burned from fireworks in 2022.

Medical professionals advise parents and adults to keep fireworks and sparklers away from children. They recommend fireworks be handled by professionals, but for families lighting their own, they urge people to light fireworks and sparklers one by one, not all at once.

Melissa Kersten, nurse practitioner at the Regional Burn Center for Ascension, said fireworks should not be pointed at anyone and should be lit by, or near, water.

"The worst-case scenario if somebody were to get burned, some of the things we would encourage people to do immediately would be to cool that burn down using room temperature, never ice. It's very important, up to 20 minutes, just continually cooling that burn," said Kersten.

She said sparkler burns are the most common burn injuries this time of year.