Larry Epp with the Don’t Touch Explosives Safety Society is doing fireworks safety presentations at both Miracle Beach and Brooklyn Elementary schools just prior to this Halloween.
Epp is doing this as part of a fireworks awareness program the group has been doing for the past 20 years, in communities throughout the Island and parts of the mainland coast.
Each year there are more than 10,000 treatable fireworks injuries across North America and many of them preventable.
The students get an overview of federal, provincial and local regulations and the difference between fireworks and fire crackers. Using a variety of dummy samples, Epp explains why some are more dangerous than others and how to avoid accidents when in the vicinity of those setting off the fireworks.
To further drive home the hazards that can be associated with firecrackers, a video entitled Just a Firecracker that shows events about a little girl who got a lit firecracker caught in her clothing and the resulting burns and lifetime effect of such an accident.
Some regulations to include:
Fireworks in manufactured in Canada are under the Federal Explosives Branch and are legal to be used by persons over the age of 18.
Firecrackers are not manufactured in Canada and are against the law to posses or use without a special licence.
Fireworks use can be provincially and locally regulated as well.
Locally, both the City of Courtenay and Town of Comox have a ban on the purchase or use of fireworks unless under a special events permit.
The Comox Valley Regional District and the Village of Cumberland do allow the use of fireworks but users must have permits or face hefty fines.