14,700 Emergency Room Visits Per Year from Consumer Fireworks

Consumer fireworks sent an estimated 14,700 people to U.S. emergency rooms in 2024 alone, a 52% increase over 2023. Burns account for 37% of injuries, with hands and fingers (36%) and head, face, and ears (22%) as the most commonly affected body parts. Eleven people died from fireworks-related incidents that year. This matters because the injury surge is not random. It is driven by a structural expansion of consumer access to increasingly powerful fireworks. Over the past two decades, states have steadily loosened fireworks laws, and the fireworks industry has responded by marketing larger aerial devices directly to consumers who have no pyrotechnic training. The devices consumers now buy at roadside tents are substantially more powerful than what was available in the 1990s, but safety education and product labeling have not kept pace. The problem persists because the fireworks industry is a $2.4 billion annual market with significant lobbying power at the state level. Legislators face pressure to liberalize fireworks laws as a populist, pro-freedom issue, while the diffuse nature of the injuries (spread across thousands of ERs nationwide over a single weekend) prevents them from generating the concentrated political outrage needed to reverse the trend. The CPSC can set product standards but cannot override state decisions to legalize increasingly powerful consumer devices. The downstream cost is enormous. Emergency room visits for fireworks injuries cost the healthcare system tens of millions annually, and many victims, particularly those who lose fingers or suffer eye injuries, face permanent disability. The 52% year-over-year spike suggests the problem is accelerating, not stabilizing.