Fireworks Safety Checklist

24 items · Lifestyle · Easy difficulty · 30 min

Fireworks safety for Diwali, Bonfire Night or New Year: local rules, setup, lighting, sparklers and children, duds, burns, and the morning after.

• Check whether fireworks are legal where you live, and on which days

  Rules differ by city, state and country, and some places allow them only on set days or at set hours.

• Consider going to a public display instead
• Buy only from a licensed seller

  Skip anything unlabeled or sold loose, and never make your own.

• Read the instructions on each firework before the night

  Many carry a minimum safe distance for spectators; set the seating behind it.

• Store them in a closed box somewhere cool and dry, away from flames and children
• Tell the neighbors when you plan to set them off

  People with nervous pets or a young baby can then plan around it.

• Bring pets indoors before dark and give them a quiet room
• Pick a flat, hard, open spot to light from

  Keep it well away from houses, parked cars, dry grass, trees and overhead wires.

• Set out a full bucket of water and a connected garden hose
• Keep a first-aid kit at hand and know what to do for a burn

  The NHS advises cooling a burn under cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes, then laying cling film loosely over it.

• Choose one adult to do all the lighting, and keep that person off alcohol
• Have that person wear close-fitting cotton and tie long hair back

  Synthetic fabric can melt onto skin, and a loose dupatta or scarf can catch a spark.

• Wear safety glasses while lighting
• Light each firework with a long lighter or an incense stick, at arm's length

  Never lean over a firework while lighting it.

• Light one at a time, then step well back
• Never point or throw a firework at people, animals or buildings
• Never hold a lit firework in your hand, other than a sparkler
• Keep children behind the spectators' line the whole time
• Give children under five glow sticks instead of sparklers
• Hand out sparklers one at a time, with gloves on, held at arm's length

  Light them outside, and make sure no one runs or waves them near someone else.

• Drop each finished sparkler hot end down into the bucket of water
• Leave a dud alone

  Do not go back to it, relight it or pick it up. Wait, then soak it from the hose or the bucket.

• Soak every spent firework in water before it goes in the trash
• Walk the area the next morning and pick up debris

  Do it before children or pets go out, and soak anything that looks unburnt.

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