New Year's Eve is as good a time as any to remind the community that fireworks are in fact illegal in Washoe County, and you can be fined up to $1,000 and even face some jail time if you are caught using them.
Not to mention Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue also see an increase in injuries this time of year from using illegal fireworks.
Adam Mayberry, the Communications Officer for Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue explains the type of injuries they see each year:
“Increase of burns, in juries to fingers hands even eyes... and a lot of folks think sparklers are very innocuous and not dangerous, in fact they burn up to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit and we’ve seen a lot of injuries as a result of burns from the use of sparklers.”
They want to encourage everyone to go out and seek a professional firework display instead.
Mayberry adds, this winter has been dry and fireworks can easily spark wildfires, “Fireworks do cause wildfires, conditions remain dry so that’s another reason we strongly encourage our residents to stay away from the use of fireworks, they cause fire they cause injuries we see an increase of burns injuries to fingers and hands and even eyes.”
Mayberry says nationally, there's well over 10,000 incidents of burns from the use of fireworks during these times of year.
“We certainly see an increase in Emergency Medical Services calls throughout Washoe County during the July 4th and New Years time frame as a result of residence using fireworks," he says.
Additionally Mayberry adds, if you have fireworks you'd like to turn in, there are options.
“If you have fireworks and you want to discard them, bring them to any fire station of Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District fire station, City of Reno, City of Sparks or any fire station will gladly will take those fireworks off your hands and dispose of them properly," he tells us.
Also if you see someone using illegal fireworks, you should call 911.
