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ProTrainings Approved Centre #90199

Burns awareness – Fireworks night at home

GOING IT ALONE THIS FIREWORKS NIGHT?

We could all do with a bit of magic this year. But with organised displays cancelled due to the restrictions, are you feeling under pressure to provide the magic for the kids yourself this fireworks night?

Many of us may never have lit a firework in our lives. So is 2020 the time to start? If you’re in two minds, we’re here to offer you some insight into the risks, so you can make an informed choice.

Plus, we’ll show how you don’t need feel pressured into holding your own display – there are ways to make it really good fun, bring the family together and make lovely memories, no fireworks needed.

CELEBRATIONS WITHOUT THE FIREWORK RISK

  • Bring back some of the foody delights from your childhood – toffee apples, honeycomb, Parkin cake to name but a few. You could dip breadsticks in melted chocolate and sprinkles for your own edible fireworks.  Get the BBQ out for hot dogs and marshmallows, rinsed down with hot chocolate. And don’t forget the jacket potatoes in tin foil!
  • Why not go old school with apple bobbing. One of the oldest Bonfire Night traditions and it couldn’t be simpler to do.  Just fill a basin with water and throw in some apples. Then grab an apple out with just your teeth (spoiler alert: leave the stalks on to make it a bit easier for the littlies). Get the kids to ask grandparents what games they used to play and bring them back to life with your family.
  • Put the Guy back into Guy Fawkes Night – you might not be burning him on a massive bonfire, but you can have fun with the kids making your own Guy with old clothes and stuffing him with paper. Tell them the Guy Fawkes story as you stuff!
  • Get creative with the littlies – splashes of paint on black paper make a beautiful fireworks display. Or paint toilet roll tubes and use orange or yellow tissue paper for the rocket.
  • If sparklers are part of your staple, it’s best to wear gloves and have a bucket of water handy for spent sparklers, so no-one is tempted to pick up a used one. Children under five are too young to handle sparklers themselves.
  • When everyone gets too cold or too tired, cuddle up on the sofa, turn off the lights and watch fireworks displays on TV – you can find loads on YouTube.

Sadly, at least 500 children and their families will join the growing number of people who will remember bonfire night for the wrong reasons with burns from fireworks or sparklers.

DID YOU KNOW?

That most injuries happen to the eyes, head or hands – so children will have visible scars for life?

  • Most injuries happen at private or family displays;
  • Rocket, air bomb and sparkler incidents are the most common;
  • Over 550 children under 16 are taken to A&E in the four weeks surrounding bonfire night alone;
  • Many more boys than girls are injured by fireworks – especially boys aged 12 to 15 years.

STILL HOLDING YOUR OWN FIREWORK EVENT?

  • Children do need careful supervision. Have a marker, like a rope, for the children to stand behind at a safe distance from the display.
  • Avoid noisy fireworks late at night, especially after 11.00pm. And they MUST end by midnight.
  • Use a torch – rather than a naked flame – to carefully read the instructions. Remember the rule to light a firework, hold the firework at arm’s length and light it with a taper or firework lighter.
  • Store fireworks in a metal box until you are ready to use them.
  • Never throw spent fireworks onto a bonfire.
  • It’s best to be fully in control when you’re lighting fireworks. Avoiding alcohol until you’ve set them all off is the safest option.
  • Don’t go back to it once a firework has been lit. Sometimes they can be very slow to get started and may take you by surprise.
  • The safest place for a bonfire is at least 18 metres (60 ft) away from the house and surrounding trees and hedges, fences or sheds.
  • After you’ve finished the display, make sure that anyone who is helping you to clear up uses tongs or gloves to collect all the spent fireworks to avoid burning themselves.

SPARKLER SAFETY

TO STAY SAFE FOLLOW OUR TIPS:

Sparklers are often seen as a relatively harmless way of allowing very young children to participate in the thrill of fireworks night – THIS IS NOT TRUE – a sparkler can reach temperatures of 20 times the boiling point of water. NEVER give them to children under five.

  • Children under five are too young to safely hold a sparkler.
  • Make sure everyone handling sparklers wears gloves. Top tip – secure the end of a sparkler in a carrot to hold instead!
  • Hold sparklers at arms length while being lit and do not stand too close to others.
  • Ensure you supervise children with sparklers, insist that they stand still and keep a good distance from other people.
  • Never hold a baby in your arms while you are holding a sparkler.
  • When the sparkler has finished put it in a bucket of cold water.
  • Always light one sparkler at a time.

Read our first aid tips so that you know what to do if anything unfortunate does happen. Don’t be the family who remembers bonfire night for the wrong reasons!

IF YOUR CHILD DOES GET A BURN FROM A FIREWORK OR OTHER SOURCE, FOLLOW THIS SAFETY ADVICE:

  • Keep calm. It won’t help if you’re panicking, you will only make your patient worry more.
  • Cool the burn with cold water for at least 20 minutes, you need to completely cool their skin to prevent pain, scarring or further damage. If you don’t do this, your skin can continue to burn long after.
  • Even if you don’t cool the burn immediately you can still do so up to 3 hours afterwards to have an impact on how it heals and scars.

LOOK AT HOW THIS BURN DEVELOPED BECAUSE IT WASN’T COOLED FOR LONG ENOUGH.

  • If there is any clothing sticking to the burn, cut around the material sticking to the skin – don’t pull it off.
  • If you can, take off any belts or jewellery near the burn, as burned skin can swell.
  • Do not touch the burn or burst any blisters.
  • Cover the burn with clingfilm – it’s quick, sterile and doesn’t stick (throw away the first 30cm for hygiene), a plastic bag, a sterile non fluffy dressing or wet cloth, to protect from infection and keep fluid in.
  • Make sure the patient is kept warm.
  • If the patient’s clothing has caught fire, get him/her to stop, drop to the floor and roll them along the ground until they flames have been smothered.
  • Get the patient to hospital unless it is a small burn.
  • Call 999/112 if the burn is very serious (anything larger than 1% of your body area ie. hand size), larger than 50 pence piece on a child or the person is in pain or unconscious.
  • Don’t give a patient who has been seriously burned anything to eat or drink, they may need an anaesthetic at the hospital.
  • Never rub anything like butter, oil, toothpaste, egg or ointment into a burn, this can make it worse WATER AND CLINGFILM are the best treatment for any burn.
  • If the burn is from chemical/acid – remove clothing as you don’t want the area to continue to burn.

FOR MORE CONFIDENCE IN DEALING WITH BURNS AND ACTING IN AN EMERGENCY TAKE A LOOK AT OUR ONLINE COURSES.

Sources:

www.capt.org.uk/fireworks

www.cbtrust.org

For extra information regarding sparkler safety please see the ROSPA video: https://youtu.be/E4r4NxuQA7A

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