{"id":1517504,"date":"2026-06-22T15:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517504"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:36:12","slug":"july-4th-safety-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517504","title":{"rendered":"July 4th safety tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2023\/06\/FIREWORKS-AP-175x161.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"175\" height=\"161\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1240653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2023\/06\/FIREWORKS-AP-175x161.jpg 175w, https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2023\/06\/FIREWORKS-AP-191x175.jpg 191w, https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2023\/06\/FIREWORKS-AP-381x350.jpg 381w, https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2023\/06\/FIREWORKS-AP.jpg 509w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/>Tyler &#8211; As families across East Texas prepare to celebrate Independence Day, UT Health East Texas is reminding the community to put safety first. Each year, thousands of people nationwide require medical treatment for fireworks-related injuries during the July 4 holiday, with children and young adults among those most affected.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nWhile many serious injuries involve professional-grade or illegal fireworks, even small devices like firecrackers and sparklers can cause significant harm.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cWe see a wide range of injuries in the emergency room during the Fourth of July holiday,\u201d said Brittany Ray, RN, trauma services education and injury prevention specialist. \u201cEven sparklers burn at about 2,000 degrees, hot enough to melt some metals, making them especially dangerous for children.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>To help prevent injuries, Ray encourages anyone planning to use fireworks to follow these simple safety tips: Never allow children to handle or ignite fireworks, Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose nearby, Light fireworks one at a time and move away quickly, Never attempt to relight or pick up fireworks that fail to ignite and Avoid using fireworks while impaired by alcohol or drugs.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nEmergency departments often see an increase in injuries to the hands, fingers, face and eyes during the holiday. In addition to fireworks-related incidents, UT Health East Texas also treats patients for heat-related illnesses, foodborne illness and alcohol-related emergencies during the July 4 holiday period, which also can bring an uptick in car crashes and water-related accidents.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nRay noted water-related injuries tend to increase with summer holidays and urged the public to take extra precautions: Designate a sober adult to actively supervise anyone in the water, Wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets when swimming or boating in lakes and rivers, Secure pools with proper fencing and locked gates to prevent unsupervised access and Never operate boats or personal watercraft while under the influence.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cWe want everyone to enjoy a safe and memorable holiday,\u201d Ray said. \u201cStay hydrated, keep food properly stored, never drink and drive, always wear your seat belt and make water safety a priority. Taking these steps can help ensure your celebration doesn\u2019t end with a trip to the emergency room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tyler &#8211; As families across East Texas prepare to celebrate Independence Day, UT Health East Texas is reminding the community to put safety first. Each year, thousands of people nationwide require medical treatment for fireworks-related injuries during the July 4 holiday, with children and young adults among those most affected. \u00a0 While many serious injuries &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517504\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">July 4th safety tips<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1240653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-01 03:00:00","action":"category-add","newStatus":"publish","terms":[165],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1517504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517507,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517504\/revisions\/1517507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1240653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1517504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1517504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1517504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}