Safety display aimed at parents

MILTON -- As state fire officials set off fireworks yesterday to demonstrate the danger of the explosives, a group of boys and girls came bicycling down a trail nearby at the Blue Hills Reservation. When a Roman candle burned off the face of a mannequin, they whooped and clapped.

''Did you see that? That was cool," one boy said.

That kind of response is one reason the state fire marshal's office holds its annual demonstration just before the Fourth of July in an attempt to mute the enthusiasm many have for fireworks.

Firefighters were discussing the dangers of fireworks as the boys rode up to the demonstration, but the warnings fell on ears still ringing with the excitement of the explosion.

Each year, fire officials bring out an arsenal of confiscated fireworks for a news conference, along with plywood dummies used in the demonstration to show the injuries that could be caused.

The explosions are the stuff of parents' nightmares: A female dummy had an accident with sparklers; a male mannequin lost fingers when fireworks exploded in his hand. Fire officials hope the damage, documented by television crews and photographers, will scare parents into taking a tougher line on fireworks.

The television crews crept as close to the wooden dummies as they were allowed. State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan warned that even though the mannequins would be damaged, ''plywood mannequins are 10 times the strength of human hands."

In Massachusetts, it is illegal for private citizens to possess or use fireworks.

''There are better places for all of us to spend our Fourth of July holiday than at the hospital," Coan said.

Thousands are injured by fireworks each year, and children between 10 and 14 are the most likely to be hurt, Coan said. Fifty percent of those treated for fireworks injuries in the United States each year are younger than 15, said Erin Christiansen, of the Greater Boston SAFE KIDS Coalition.

Doctors warned about the bottle rockets responsible for eye injuries and the sparklers that can cause burns. Those injuries are on the rise, said Dr. Colleen Ryan, a surgeon who treats burn victims at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Shriners Hospital for Children. Since Memorial Day, those two hospitals alone have already treated seven patients with fireworks-related injuries, she said.

Officials also offered a dose of common-sense safety information, such as that people should not bend over an unexploded firecracker to see why it didn't go off.

Fire Chief Malcolm Larson said that although the children on bicycles happened upon the demonstration, their parents were the target audience for the display.

''The key is for adults to see that kids don't get access to fireworks," he said.

The problem, he said, is that parents give their kids sparklers ''as soon as the kid's old enough to swing them around."