Suffolk gives refresher on perils, costs posed by consumer fireworks

Reminders of Long Island's uneasy relationship with consumer fireworks were on display ahead of the nation's 248th birthday.

On Monday, Suffolk County officials detonated a load of the fireworks, which are illegal in New York State, inside an SUV at the county fire academy in Yaphank, a demonstration intended to warn the public of the dangers of untrained use. On Saturday, a Brentwood man was injured when a firework blew up in his hand.

On June 17, Suffolk police seized more than1,500 illegal fireworks with a street value of $5,000 from a shipping facility in Bay Shore in what authorities said was part of an ongoing investigation.

Across much of the nation, the consumer fireworks industry is booming and beloved. Last year, Americans bought $2.2 billion worth of consumer fireworks, according to a trade group, American Pyrotechnics Association.

On Long Island, professional — legal — fireworks shows are common at Jones Beach and other places, but police, elected officials and the medical establishment take a dim view of consumer use. They made their point at Monday's demonstration, as the SUV quickly filled with flames.

“If people followed the law, my job wouldn't exist,” said Dr. Steven Sandoval, medical director of the Stony Brook University Hospital Burn Center, in an interview at the demonstration.

It is a misdemeanor in New York State to sell most fireworks. Repeat offenders can be convicted of a felony. Using or even possessing them is a violation. State law prohibits firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles, spinners and aerial devices. A 2018 change in state law permitted sale and use of sparklers and similar devices across much of the state, though not in Nassau, Suffolk, New York City and a few other counties.

In 2023, Sandoval said, Stony Brook University Hospital had 10 firework-related emergency room consults and 15 patients were referred to its burn center from other hospitals.

Sandoval warned against sparklers, a pyrotechnic he said typically causes accidents because parents perceive them as harmless to their children.

“The truth is there are far more incidents with kids using sparklers,” Sandoval said. “The fireworks incidents are usually among adults. Kids run around with sparklers like if they were little light sabers. I played with them when I was a kid, but that was the ’70s. We’ve got to be safe and we’ve got to move forward.”

Rudy Sunderman, deputy commissioner of Suffolk Fire Rescue, said sparklers burn at over 1,000 degrees — hotter than matches.

“You wouldn't give a child a burning match,” Sunderman said. “Why would you give them a sparkler?”

It's not just children at risk. About 9 p.m. Saturday, a 66-year-old Brentwood man handling fireworks severed his left hand and three fingers on his right hand after one blew up, Suffolk police said in a news release. He was treated at Stony Brook University Hospital, police said.

Statewide, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said in a news release, there were 173 fireworks-related injury visits reported by emergency departments in 2022, the last year for which information was available. Of those visits, 125 came between June 18 and July 18. A quarter of the visits during that period were by patients 18 years old or under.

According to the release, common causes of fireworks-related injuries are firecrackers exploding before they can be thrown, rockets hitting bystanders and firecrackers that detonate with a delay, injuring somebody who goes to investigate.

The American Pyrotechnics Association says the rate of fireworks injuries has fallen drastically since the 1970s. The group attributes the decline to “industry safety education efforts and the ever improving quality of its products.”

That hasn't stopped police from making arrests. In 2022, according to the state's Department of Criminal Justice Services, there were at least 26 arrests of people 18 and older statewide, including three in Nassau and three in Suffolk, where a fireworks charge was the top charge. Nassau police made 32 arrests with fireworks charges in 2022, department spokesman Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun said last year, adding that the department “has a zero tolerance approach with regard to illegal possession and setting off fireworks.”