SCRANTON, Pa. — With the Fourth of July drawing near, officials in Scranton are discussing fireworks safety and burn prevention.
Officials from Scranton City Hall gathered on Monday morning at fire department headquarters for a news conference with the Burn Prevention Network.
The timing is no coincidence. Fire Chief John Judge says this is a busy time for burn injuries.
"Usually, the two weeks preceding the Fourth of July and the two weeks after is when we see the majority of our incidents. And, you know, some of the statistics around burn injuries related to fireworks, it stems out that 70 percent of the injuries happen in those two weeks before and after July Fourth," Chief Judge said.
Leo Woelkers of Moscow takes the message of burn prevention personally
"I was burned in an underground electrical explosion in 2010."
He wasn't hurt by a firework but knows the risk they pose, especially since 2017 when lawmakers approved the sale of aerial fireworks in the Commonwealth.
"It's important to me to try to relay to people what it's really like with a burn injury. It's not something you just have once, like having surgery, and it's one and done. It's really a lifelong thing that you deal with," Woelkers said.
Safety is also on the mind of Scranton City Council. Members who attended this meeting say they plan to pass new legislation before the Fourth of July that further restricts when and where you can use fireworks in Scranton.
The proposal increases fines for people caught breaking the city's fireworks law that was put in place last year that only allow fireworks on certain holidays and weekends throughout the year, including Independence Day.
The law also says you can't use fireworks within 150 feet of an occupied building. That means, in a city like Scranton, there's almost nowhere you can fire off fireworks legally.
But these city officials know it'll happen this week anyway, so Chief Judge has a request.
"Put them in a bucket afterward. We've had fires as recently as last year where they've discarded them in the regular trash, and the trash bins are right next to the house, and all of a sudden, the exterior of the house is on fire."
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