If you're not careful, those fireworks you set off for the Fourth of July might hurt you.
"Anything with a flame is going to be dangerous," Todd March, Pottsville fire chief, said Wednesday.
Precautions should be taken, he said, such as maintaining an adequate distance from the fireworks.
"Just keep your distance," he said.
A bucket of water to extinguish fireworks is also a good idea and adult supervision is recommended.
"A lot of it's common sense," March said.
Sometimes people underestimate the danger.
"They think they can throw them quicker than they can go off," Jesse Zimmerman, first assistant fire chief of the Orwigsburg Fire Department, said Wednesday.
Protecting yourself is key, he said.
"If you're going to light something off, you're going to want to put it on the ground," he said, adding sometimes people get injured because they think a firework is a dud and are trying to re-light it when it explodes.
Stay away from fireworks when they are lit, he said.
Zimmerman said he can't recall the last time someone in the borough was injured by fireworks.
State police Trooper John Burns of the Frackville barracks also said keeping safety in mind is important.
"People who want to celebrate with family and friends using small novelty fireworks should do with an overemphasis on safety," Ed Mann, state fire commissioner, said in a press release.
According to law, items defined as "ground and hand-held sparkling devices, novelties and toy caps" are legally permitted in the state.
Act 204 of 2004 spells out fireworks and guidelines of them and the state Department of Agriculture regulates consumer fireworks. They are defined as "[any] Any combustible or explosive composition or any substance or combination of substances [or, except as hereinafter provided, any article prepared for the purpose of producing a visible or an audible effect by combustion, explosion, deflagration or detonation, and shall include blank cartridges and toy cannons in which explosives are used, the type of balloons which require fire underneath to propel the same, firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, Roman candles, aerial fireworks, or other fireworks of like construction, and any fireworks containing any explosive or flammable compound or any tablets or other device containing an explosive substance."
A permit must be obtained by residents in the municipality where the consumer fireworks display takes place.
Out-of-state residents with identification may purchase such fireworks and transport them out of Pennsylvania.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission lists a breakdown of the most injured body parts caused by fireworks on its website, www.cpsc.gov/onsafety.
According to the website, 41 percent of the injuries are to hands and fingers; 19 percent to the head, faces and ears; 15 percent to the trunks of the body; 13 percent to the legs; 12 percent to the eyes and 1 percent to the arms. More than half are burns, according the site.
Of those injured, 23 percent are people between ages 25 to 44. Males are the most likely to be injured at 74 percent.