4th of July is the United States’ most festive, patriotic holiday. With the outdoor barbeques, backyard fireworks, and high density of people in homes, it’s easy for things to get out of hand. Here are some tips we have for you to ensure safety while still having fun.

  • Keep everyone in the same place. Outside barbequeing? Usher everyone outside so everybody can play there. That way, if something happens, there are others to help them, call emergency services, or anything else they might need. If you’re heading in, ask people to go inside with you so they’re not left out there unsupervised. Of course, this is just a precaution so if you have an ample number of supervising adults both inside and outside, then this isn’t necessary.
  • Don’t light fireworks near where you’re barbequeing. Or on the grass. This is probably (hopefully!) a given, but don’t light the fireworks near flammable things! Gas powered barbeques may still be emitting gas even when off, and the  fireworks may catch a large fire rather than showing off pretty sparks. Likewise, grass is flammable especially if you live in a dry area like Southern California, so try to keep on the concrete.
  • Have someone supervising the pool (preferably one CPR certified). Especially with kids, the festivities may get them a lot more excited than normal. Even if they are just beginning to learn how to swim, or don’t know how to swim at all, kids may overestimate their abilities in the water when seeing others on the deep end. Because others may not be actively watching, make sure you have somebody checking the pool to make sure everybody’s okay, and preferably CPR certified in case anything does happen.
  • Keep your pets secured. As much as it seems like fun to have your dog running around while you’re setting sparklers on fire, lighting your barbeque, and having a bunch of people constantly running around (actually, it doesn’t seem like fun), your pets can be badly hurt if they accidentally run through fireworks, fall into the pool, get trampled by distracted people, etc. If you must have Fido included in your festivities, make sure he’s on a leash, and actively being watched.
  •  Don’t relight duds, and dispose of all fireworks carefully. Duds could be just a defective firework, in which case lighting them would be extremely dangerous. Even if you think you just didn’t light it correctly, don’t relight fireworks. With a similar precaution in mind, make sure you douse all your used fireworks in water before disposing of them in case they still are quietly burning post-spark.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July from all of us here at Good Deal Insurance!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>