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City fireworks display touted as safe celebration
(by Sue Reid - June 29, 2011)
City fireworks display touted as safe celebration
By SUE REID
The City of Solon will host its annual fireworks display celebrating Independence Day at dusk, or approximately 9:45 p.m., July 4 at Solon Community Park on SOM Center Road (Route 91).
Watching an organized display such as this is the best way to ensure everyone's safety this holiday, Fire Chief William J. Shaw said.
Mr. Shaw said he sees as one of the dangers of individuals using their own fireworks that the quality of the manufacturer is unknown.
"The reality is, people will use them," Mr. Shaw said, "but it is uncertain if there are a lot of standards associated with the fireworks."
The danger is that some may have more gunpowder or a shorter fuse.
"People have these fireworks and think they know how to discharge them, but because of this variation of quality of the manufacturer, they end up getting injured or burned or something worse."
Using fireworks "can be a pretty risky decision to make," Mr. Shaw said.
The types of injuries his department sees this time of year range from burns to loss of fingers or a variety of hearing injuries and loss of eyesight. It is imperative to be at a safe distance from a fireworks display, Mr. Shaw said, and there needs to be water around.
At the Solon display, Mr. Shaw's department will inspect the fireworks site, as required by law, and monitor the unloading, delivery, setup, discharge and cleanup afterword.
"As soon as the truck pulls on the property at community park, we have to have an inspector there, and that is outlined in the Ohio Revised Code. We check and verify their licenses and monitor their setups and discharge, and we make sure the crowd is in a safe location.
"If it is dry, we will wet down the area," Mr. Shaw said. "We take a lot of safety precautions."
He said that the biggest problems with home fireworks displays, are that people don't take any safety precautions, and fireworks aren't secure.
"They can tip over and shoot into crowd, and they have no water or hose line," he said. "It's not a safe setup.
"Our recommendation is come out to watch professionally trained people," he said. "It's just a real nice evening."
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