Advice for the holiday weekend

McHenry County Sheriff’s Office reminds everyone to have a safe 4th of July weekend.

Each year fireworks cause thousands of injuries.  Here are a few tips on how to celebrate safely.
- Wear safety glasses when using fireworks and sparklers.
- Adults should always be around and supervise children around firework displays.
- Never use or play with any type of firework within or close to a vehicle.
- Be aware and careful of where you point fireworks and where they will land.
- Do not consume alcoholic beverages when you will be using fireworks.
For additional information on the use of fireworks in the State of Illinois and the State of Illinois law, please go to: http://www.sfm.illinois.gov/commercial/pyrotechnicsfireworks/rules.aspx

For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/2711672/.

We have a couple additions to the above advice:

- Never hold on to a firework when lighting.  Set it on the ground or other firm, non-flammable surface to light.
- Use a long BBQ lighter to ignite any fireworks.  The little extra distance away from the device could very well mean the difference between a scare and an injury if the fuse burns too quick.
- Keep a pair of thick leather gloves and an empty coffee can or metal bucket on hand. A empty metal garbage can would work as well. Use the gloves to handle spent fireworks. Put spent fireworks in the metal can to cool off.
- Make a handle for sparklers, especially for the short metal ones.  It’s easy to do.  Take a wooden dowel rod (1/2″ – 1″ in diameter) and cut it into 6″ sections.  At one end of each section, drill a small hole about the diameter of the sparkler.  Make the hole about 2″ deep. Insert the bare end of the sparkler in the handle before lighting.
- For bottle rockets, take a section of pipe, approximately 1/2″ in diameter and several feet long (electrical conduit works well), and pound it into the ground, about a foot or so, with the open end pointing up towards a safe target area.  Before lighting, set the bottle rocket stick in the pipe, holding it at the top by placing the edge of the pipe between the fuse and the body of the bottle rocket.

NOTE:   Yes, we know that bottle rockets are technically illegal in IL but we know there are some that will use them anyways so we prefer that everyone stays safe.

GrayMatter Defense wishes everyone a happy and safe Independence Day!

Don’t forget to check out our “Safe Summer” Kids’ Self-Defense Training session coming up next week.  Also, check out our Tags4ID service.  It’s a great service, especially for kids.