Emergency responders across Southern California are preparing for the Fourth of July holiday weekend and sharing tips to keep people safe as they celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
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While emergency room visits tend to decline during summer months because schools are out and illnesses like the flu are less prevalent, the Fourth of July is among the busiest days of the season at Riverside Community Hospital, said Dr. Steven Kim, who chairs the emergency medicine department.
“The Pitt,” the popular HBO TV series, recently focused its second season on an emergency room shift during the Fourth of July. While it may be a dramatized version of what doctors and nurses deal with on a hectic holiday, the experiences are based in reality, Kim said. Several doctors interviewed said they avoid watching “The Pitt” because its accuracy would make them feel like they’re still at work.
Among other medical cases, the drama’s second season features a 12-year-old boy who loses two fingers while setting off fireworks with his friends and a young woman clad in an American flag bikini being treated for a severe sunburn.
Some of the worst fireworks-related injuries, like what the boy dealt with on “The Pitt,” come from illegal fireworks use, said Dr. Rodney Borger with Arrowhead Medical Center. Throughout his career, Borger said he has seen similar injuries, where a firework explodes in someone’s hand and dismembers them, and it’s often been caused by illegal fireworks.
While the most devastating injuries have come from illegal fireworks, Dr. Michael Jimenez with Pomona Valley Hospital said 90 percent of the fireworks-related injuries staff deal with during the holiday come from legal fireworks, often because people are intoxicated while setting off fireworks or aren’t properly supervising kids and young adults.,
Even though personal fireworks are illegal throughout Riverside County, the emergency room has treated patients for less severe hand or facial burns from setting off fireworks. But they likely see fewer fireworks-related injuries than other parts of the country because of stricter regulations, Kim said.
The hospital treats a large portion of patients for heat-related illnesses from bad sunburns to heat stroke, drownings and injuries sustained from boating or other outdoor activities. Often on the holiday, people spend time under the sun, drinking alcohol and not necessarily hydrating enough or reapplying sunscreen.
“It’s sort of a recipe for higher risk of injuries,” Kim said.
In anticipation of a patient influx, Riverside Community Hospital staffs higher numbers than usual for the holiday and ensures blood supplies are full in case major surgeries are needed, Kim said.
UCI Health, which also has a burn center, sees more patients transferred from area hospitals with fireworks-related injuries and has more plastic and orthopedic surgeons on call during the holiday, often to help those who have lost limbs, need amputations or have other fireworks-related injuries often affecting their face or hands, said Dr. Sigrid Burruss.
What “The Pitt” does best, Kim said, is highlight issues all emergency rooms across the country have dealt with, including long hours, staffing shortages, funding cuts and people leaving emergency medicine because of a lack of support while remaining staff must still work to provide care to anyone in the community when they’re most in need.
“I think the COVID pandemic really changed some things, and it’s made it more difficult for everything in medicine,” Kim said. “There’s less support all the way around.”
Holiday safety tips
In the wake of the Eaton fire, Pasadena officials reminded community members that all fireworks, even typically legal ones like sparklers, can’t legally be used or sold in the city. Violators of local fireworks laws can face up to six months in jail and fined between $250 and $1,000 and may have to pay for the fireworks’ safe disposal. Additional officers and firefighters will patrol the city throughout the holiday to search for illegal fireworks use.
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“We really have a zero tolerance for that,” Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said. “Especially post-Eaton fire, we just don’t want to have anybody injured or have another brush fire.”
At night, hospitals around the area also see an influx of patients involved in vehicle crashes because of people driving under the influence.
“Be responsible,” Borger said. “If you’re drinking, don’t drive. Don’t do things that are not advisable. Use common sense. It’s usually that people get into trouble and end up in the emergency department when in retrospect they’re doing things they shouldn’t be doing.”
Because of the increase in drunken drivers, Borger said, he avoids driving at night during the holiday weekend. Jimenez recommended that anyone hosting a party monitor their guests’ alcohol intake and offer them a place to stay, a ride home or a ride share or cab if they’re too intoxicated to drive.
If setting off fireworks, Jimenez said, only sober adults should be lighting them and supervising any teens or young adults that are setting them off.
Only light fireworks in open areas away from dry grass and trees and never point them at another person. Use garden gloves and goggles to prevent hand and eye injuries and have large buckets of water on hand to douse the firework if it doesn’t go off or if anything else goes wrong, Jimenez said.
Never pick up a lit firework that didn’t explode, experts say, because it might detonate in your hand. Call local fire officials to help safely dispose of any fireworks that didn’t go off after lighting.
The UCI Health burn center, along with other local emergency responders, run a campaign to educate communities across Orange County on fireworks safety through media announcements and classes in local schools, emphasizing that fireworks are dangerous and can cause injury even if they’re legal and purchased from a licensed vendor.
If burning material from a firework gets on someone, call 911 immediately and have moist towels on hand to get burning materials off people and prevent burns from progressing while paramedics are on their way, Jimenez said.
The safest way to celebrate, Jimenez said, is to attend a professional drone or fireworks show in the community, like he’ll be doing with his loved ones.
“Enjoy yourself by all means,” Jimenez said, “but be responsible and you’ll avoid any tragic events that truly are avoidable.”
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