52 injured by fireworks over Fourth of July weekend, Harborview confirms

As the Independence Day weekend wraps up, doctors at Washington’s Level-1 trauma center are tallying up the number of fireworks injuries they’ve seen.

The total was 52 fireworks-related injuries by 9 a.m. Monday, July 7. That’s on par with what they typically see in the days surrounding the Fourth of July.

Types of injuries logged at Harborview Medical Center

Harborview Medical Center listed the injuries as 21 involving hands, 14 involving eyes, nine involving other body areas, and eight involving multiple areas (such as hands and eyes).

In an interview provided by UW Medicine, Orthopedic surgeon Chelsea Boe said some of the most severe injuries she’s seen are when people get too hands-on with fireworks.

“Sometimes people try to light the fireworks and then throw them,” Boe said, or continue holding them after they’re lit.

She said the results can be “pretty horrendous blast injuries.”

“There’s trauma to the skin, the soft tissues, the tendons that help you move your fingers, the nerves that let you sense your fingers, and then the bones themselves,” Boe said.

Sometimes, a blast itself can amputate fingers and hands, or force doctors to remove parts of the body that are beyond repair.

The recovery process may be far from over for the 52 people injured this holiday.

“We see a lot of teenagers and young adults, really not aware that that split-second decision that they make — playing with their friends, playing with fireworks, kind of the moment of adrenaline when they’re shooting a firework off — is going to change the entire course of the rest of their life,” Boe said.

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