Each year we try to alert the public to the dangers of fireworks and the applicable ordinances regarding their use.

Yet, each year I hear the unmistakable and resonating booms and crackles of fireworks in our neighborhoods from the end of June to the end of July. Each year hospitals see injuries ranging from minor burns to amputations and blindness, as the result of fireworks.

In 2007, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 9,800 people for fireworks-related injuries. In 2007 in our village, a young man tragically lost his life to fireworks in his own backyard in front of friends and family.

Fireworks have the highest death rate relative to hours of usage and exposure of a consumer product — but most people don’t notice because they put all their risk in to a few hours a year.

About one quarter of the emergency room fireworks injuries occur from July 2 to July 5. But no one believes it will happen to them, because they are careful.

Six states — Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Ohio and Vermont — permit the sale of sparklers and some other devices of comparable strength such as fountains, snakes, party poppers and ground spinners. As a promotional technique, the fireworks allowed under rules of this type have been labeled “safe and sane” fireworks by their advocates. Laws based on this approach allow considerable private use of fireworks, but exclude any explosive type devices that lift off the ground.

In 2007, sparklers and other novelties accounted for one-third of emergency room fireworks injures.

Adults hand sparklers to young children to celebrate the holidays the same as they would give them “kiddie cocktails” while the grown-ups celebrate with alcohol. The difference is that the sparklers reach temperatures of 1,200 to 1,800 degrees, throwing off sparks that cause mild to severe burns and catching clothing and property on fire.

The Downers Grove Municipal Code mirrors that of the Illinois State Fireworks Code, which means that any firecrackers, bottle rockets, cherry bombs and the like are prohibited in the village. Crossing the Illinois borders, one can easily purchase fireworks legally in adjacent states, but it is illegal to bring them back into this state.

For a Fourth of July fireworks display that’s both exciting and safe, we recommend families attend the professional fireworks displays near their homes. Not only is an official fireworks display safer than doing it yourself, it is also far more spectacular than anything you could do in the backyard.

Leave fireworks to the professionals.