TRAVERSE CITY -- It is the season of fireworks, and local officials are urging people to use discretion when handling the explosives this holiday weekend.
Rick Osburn has worked with North Flight EMS in Traverse City for several years. He has seen first hand the danger of mishandling fireworks.
“We’ve actually had an incident where the exploding type of fireworks actually took fingers off a person,” Osburn said.
According to local firefighters, fireworks seriously injure more than 9,000 people in the United Sates every year. Almost half of those cases involve children under the age of 14, officials said.
“We’ll you got to keep them out of the reach of the kids. Keep the fireworks up where they can’t get to them, so when the time comes to have fun…the adults know where they are and can get them properly and supervise the kids as they use them,” said Osburn.
In Michigan, only “Class C” fireworks are legal. That includes items like sparklers, smoke bombs, caps and snakes. It’s illegal to posses any form of firework that shoots into the air or is powerful enough to be classified as a “Class B” firework.
“You would be arrested for a misdemeanor and that is a 90 day misdemeanor and there would be financial liabilities as well,” said State Police Lieutenant William Elliott.
