The number of children being seriously injured as a result of fireworks is at the highest level in over a decade, according to data from the Children’s Burns Trust.
Figures for the year to October show 40 children in England and Wales suffered serious injuries, with burns that have required specialist treatment.
That’s a fourfold increase on the same point last year, marking the highest number of children with serious injuries since 2014.
Rosie-May was four years old when a firework went astray and hit her in 2018, leaving her needing skin graft surgery and five weeks of treatment in hospital.
She’s now 12 and wants to raise awareness about the dangers, but says fireworks make her “jump”.
“I am quite frightened of them,” she told Sky News. “I don’t really like going close to them or being out when it’s Bonfire Night or sometimes New Year’s because there’s quite a few on New Year’s.
Rosie-May and her family were at a friend’s house to watch a display when a multi-box flare hit Rosie’s neck, setting her clothes on fire.
“It was just a fluke accident,” Rosie-May’s mother Ellie Mason, who campaigns for firework safety, said.
“Even though we did everything safe and had the right distance, the bucket of water, sand, everything was done as the instructions say to… I find that scary.”
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Experts say firework events at people’s homes are proving more dangerous than organised large-scale events.
Ken Dunn, a retired burns surgeon and vice chairman of the Children’s Burn Trust, said: “The burns service tends to see those that are to the face and to larger areas of the body, which are sometimes as a consequence of misdirected fireworks – in other words ones that are being used domestically.”
He told Sky News common firework injuries for children come from sparklers as people don’t appreciate “they are burning at around a thousand degrees centigrade and can produce a full thickness injury very rapidly”.
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It is not yet clear why there has been such a rise in injuries reported so far this year.
Mr Dunn called it a “cause for concern”, which the Children’s Burns Trust is “investigating”.
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‘Cool, call, cover’
Campaigners are clear that fireworks can be enjoyed in the build-up to Bonfire Night, as long as appropriate caution and care are taken.
The advice if burns do occur is: cool, call, cover. This means cool it down, call for help, and cover with cling-film.
Rosie-May’s mum said: “A burns injury is for life… It’s really important for people to understand the dangers of fireworks. They are explosive. They’re not toys.”
