Alcohol consumption is the biggest problem with most home fireworks displays, Battalion Chief Chris Weir of Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue said. "On the Fourth of July, people like to drink and get stupid. It's pure carelessness. There is not a lot of responsibility," Weir said.
Excessive drinking involving 25- to 45-year-olds causes nearly one-fourth of fireworks-related injuries, according to the National Fire Prevention Association.
Fort Lauderdale, which will be spending $30,000 on fireworks launched at 9 p.m. from a barge anchored off the beach south of Las Olas Boulevard, encourages people to attend the show rather than have their own displays. About 100,000 attend the show, said Weir.
For those who choose to have a fireworks party, Weir said a designated fireworks shooter who will remain sober should be chosen, just as a group would choose a designated driver.
Also, use lawful fireworks.
"Only sparkler-type fireworks are legal," Weir said. "Those fireworks that are propelled in the air or explode, like bottle rockets or firecrackers, are illegal."
Sheriff's deputies will patrol the locations where fireworks are sold, asking customers to prove their right to use the non-sparkler kinds of fireworks, he said.
"[But] it's impossible to follow up on every consumer, so we just pray that people are responsible," Weir said.
Thirty percent of fireworks injuries are from rockets being horizontally shot directly at people, and 28 percent of injuries are caused by firecrackers detonating in the hand or being thrown at people, the National Fire Prevention Association reports.
"If you are going to use fireworks, stay away from unlawful ones, because you don't know how they are going to function," Broward County Fire Marshal Charles Raiken said.
Also, allowing children to use sparklers unsupervised is a big mistake, because many youngsters will try to light other things once they have used up their sparklers, Raiken said.
Margate wants people to go to its professional fireworks display as well, said Fire-Rescue Chief Garrison Westbrook. "We also ask people to leave their fireworks at home ... even sparklers can be dangerous in a crowd, but people have cooperated in the past for the most part," he said.
Fireworks can be purchased in Margate from indoor and outdoor vendors. All are held to the same standards.
"We check their fireworks stock against the state-approved fireworks list, and, in the case of indoor retailers, their buildings must have a sprinkler system and there must be a fire extinguisher nearby," Westbrook said.
The state-approved fireworks list comes out each year, said Joel Gordon, Plantation Fire Rescue spokesman.
"Yes, we inspect our local vendors, but we encourage Plantation residents to attend the Fourth of July fireworks' celebration at Central Park rather than have their own," Gordon said.
Pompano Beach, like Fort Lauderdale, will launch its fireworks from the water, with safety being the dominant theme.
"The display on the barge, which will be near the Pompano Beach Pier, will be inspected, and we will have fire safety personnel on both the barge and [Broward Sheriff's Office] boats nearby," said John Jurgle, Pompano Beach Fire-Rescue spokesman.
