How young to light firecrackers?

Marguerite

Active Member
When husband & I were kids, "Crackernight" was an annual celebration. For weeks leading up to it, fireworks were available for sale at a number of shops in our area. There was no restriction on sale, if you had the money they sold it to you, regardless of age. This WAS in the 60s!

Every year on Crackernight, there were fires, injuries etc. Every year before Crackernight, there would be education programs in the schools on how to safely use and watch fireworks. Fire rockets - you bury a glass drink bottle half its depth, in sand, then prop the rocket in it (making sure the rocket is pointing away from you and away from people & buildings), "light blue touch paper, stand well back".

Some of the safety regulations were over-the-top - they recommended putting SPARKLERS in the ground to light them and watch them. Kind of defeating the purpose.

When I was about 8, Crackernight was changed from Empire Day (which got dropped) to the Queens Birthday Weekend, which just happend to coincide with my birthday. It meant I had some pretty amazing birthday parties, with the whole city setting off fireworks!

Sometimes my brothers could be a bit reckless, but in general we were a safe family, when it came to letting off fireworks. Safe, without being ridiculous over it (ie we let kids hold sparklers, but with careful supervision to make sure they didn't touch the hot metal).

I was permitted to light fireworks, again with careful adult supervision, when I was about 8 or 9. Possibly younger. But it made me nervous, so I didn't do it often. Our parents and older siblings supervised to make sure we didn't do anything risky. We would have our fireworks display on the lawn, with plenty of space around. Everybody would watch, nobody was permitted to stand too close or the fireworks wouldn't be lit. Anyone breaking the rules was sent inside and had to watch through the windows.

I do think being too cautious can be almost as bad as being reckless. I HAVE been to fireworks parties where people were being stupid, and I got out of there as soon as I could. But if people are organised to stand in a group and watch while ONE person is delegated to light ONE (or maybe a couple) firework(s), then it should be safe. People can take turns, so a smaller child who really wants to have a turn at lighting one can be given a fairly safe one to light (one that is known to not explode at any stage - "golden rain" was often a first firework for that purpose) and the lighting was done with an adult supervising/helping. It actually was a good way to reinforce safety lessons. I learnt more about fire safety as a child, because of these fireworks nights, than I'm sure I would have any other way.

Mind you, the possibility of things going wrong (not dangerously so) was an extra shot of adrenalin. I remember my 11th birthday party - there were about 20 kids plus my siblings, the cars were in the street and we were partying in the empty garage and into the driveway. Our fireworks display was set up on the driveway and all was going well - until a Jumping Jack shot into the garage. It fizzed around at ankle level, with everyone jumping to get out of the way. The only damage was a scorched sock on one guest who hadn't got out of the way. No burns, no injuries, a lot of hysteria.

Catherine wheels - we had a permanent nail in the paling fence. I think most Sydney homes had the nail in the fence for Crackernight. A good, long nail with a small head, the nail angled slightly downwards, made for a really good display. The more engineering-minded would put a bolt over the nail and against the fence, to act as a bearing so the firework wouldn't get stuck and shoot sparks in only one direction.

So I do think a well-run family fireworks night can be a positive experience, if you lay down and follow good safety rules, turn-taking, supervision - and plenty of snacks!

We also had it in the middle of winter, so the fire risk was at its lowest.

Marg
 

dreamer

New Member
I suppose, if they were legal here, I might feel differently. JUst like I know my "anti gun" rule at my house can be rigid-----but becuz they ARE all illegal here, 1st we would be permitting the kids to break a law....which I do not think is good role modeling for my kids.and 2nd becuz it is against the law, we do not do it, and there is little opportunity to teach safety. Same with the guns, I never had a gun, have no interest (actually I was exposed, my father was a hunter and I hunted beside him till age 11 or so) but since I have no interest, I have no desire to teach the safety, I simply prefer to not permit it in my home.
And kinda the same way someone else playing their music loud is irritating to some....I just get annoyed that so many of my neighbors who call and complain if my dog barks one bark----there they are out there all nite setting off these things that freak my husband out so bad and make such a mess for me to clean up. I find it rude and thoughtless. and with my neighbors behaving this way, I will never be in any hurry to ever vote to make the legal.....I sure would have rather used my energy to go to the parade today, but becuz these jerks had to have their fun all nite long, they robbed me of my fun. I also would have preferred to use my energy to be used for something other than picking up their litter from their fireworks. I am thinking how safe can these be if I did not set any off and my patio and cars have scorch marks? How much was anyone controlling where they went if I cleaned up for 2 hours? I do not impose the schedule I keep on my neighbors (I always worked 2nd and 3rd shift) I do not impose my music on them, nor my religion or anything else. But I sure had to sit here and be disrupted by their fun all nite. (and deal with the consequences all day) <sigh> LOL-- yeah, it made me crabby. I do not often get crabby, and..LOL- I do LOVE the 4th.
oh and since they are illegal and the police do go respond to calls re fireworks etc here...then the police are scattered all over responding to the calls for fireworks and if a REAL serious emergency came up- it would have to wait for our police to finish at the fireworks call.....if some one had an accident from their home fireworks, and the paramedics were THERE, then they cannot be as fast to respond if there is another emergency in town.
 

Andy

Active Member
Maybe you should report the damage to your vehicle and porch. Since they are so sensitive to a dog barking, they should know better about the fireworks party noise. Next year feel free to report a loud party going on next door after normal bed time. I usually don't believe in tit for tat, however, your family's health is being effected and you have the right to ask for a quiet night. It is beyond annoying for you and your family.

Totally rude of them not to atleast come over to clean up and apologize and offer to cover damages.

When our next door neighbor invited us to their display, I started cleaning up difficult child's items. The other mom stated, "Just leave it, I will clean it up tomorrow morning." I did leave it because I didn't know how long the display would go but I did clean what I could see after the display and went out this morning to clean the rest. I didn't think it would be fair for her to clean up after our fireworks even though her kids joined us in them. We provided, we should make sure everything is cleaned up.

Fireworks just became legal in Minnesota in the last year or so. I remember as a girl walking in Superior, WI to the Lake and afraid to pass some homes because the kids where allowed to do anything they wanted with explosives. Very dangerous - no supervision - if there was any, the supervisors were just as careless as the kids.

People with guns, cars, ect. need a permit. In order to drive or shoot, everyone needs to take a class and/or pay for a liscense (thus registering). You show your drivers liscense to purchase alcohol and tobacco. Wonder why we can't have mandatory classes with explosives that in order to buy, you have to show your liscense - thus showing you have had fireworks safety training? There can be a jr permit that would only cover the smokebombs, sparklers, and pop-its. Kids can't have them without their permit. These trainings will be yearly to renew the liscense. There can be different levels for the different types of fireworks.
 

dreamer

New Member
Andy, I wish it were as simple as it being my immediate neighbors, but, my most immediate neighbors did not set any off or lite any, none of them even seemed to be home, except lady in myback yard side of us. and it was not just 2-3 families setting them off, it seemed to be nearly half the entire town. I guess thats why it went all nite, tho. One family doing theres and then another and then another, all thru the whole nite. in all directions, some 4-5 houses down from me and some 1 block or 2 from me, and some I am sure were as far as a half mile or mile away, but then they echo and the lite still flashes overhead. Becuz we are semi rural, (to the north of me at end of my block it is entirely rural) the bright lites seem even more bright becuz it is normally so dark here. But I cannot pinpoint or blame any specific people, it was simply everywhere, so I have no idea whose litter and debris is all over my house cars and yard.
the damage is only scorch marks, not enough to need any high cost, but even picking up and sweeping is difficult for me......

DANG there go more again tonite....these sund very close, cuz I can hear the people giggling.
No last nite they were not just simple sparklers, they were higher power types that do fly kinda far. they go up quite high.....
dang, now is that smoke and fire crackling or is it simply burnt gunpowder and something else makeing crackle noises? darn.....
yes we are very much in town, our house lots are 50 by 100 or so and the houses are all close together....far too close for all this. Heck we are not allowed to burn anything except charcoal in a BBQ grill, NO fires of any kind for any purpose at all in the county (LOL, even with all our recent flooding and so much of the county is now under water)
cannot burn any yard waste, landscape waste, trash, paper, leaves, sticks, etc.no wood fires, nothing.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
What's really stupid is that you can buy fireworks in Ohio, but it's illegal to shoot them off. Duh.

My dad and his friends used to always set off fireworks and were always drinking heavily. One almost blew up in my brother's hand. Then they got even more carried away and started using dynamite (how they got it, I don't know) and managed to take out an acre of the farmer's field next door.

We don't shoot off fireworks.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
If fireworks are illegal, then the safety message to the kids is to not break the law. it's as simple as that.

I'm not certain, but I think I remember there was a curfew. We weren't supposed to set them off before sunset, and I think we had to stop by 10 pm. I'm not sure, though. ANd if there was a curfew, it would have only been for the couple of years before fireworks were stopped. First they took any teeth out of them (the bigger and louder ones were the first to simply fail to be available) and then finally, you had to have a licence to buy fireworks AND let them off.

We can still have fireworks displays but they have to have permits and be conducted by someone with a licence. And insurance. Fireworks can only be purchased by adults (with ID) and only in one very small part of Australia, around our capital city.

Marg
 
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