Raleigh urges fireworks safety ahead of Dix Park July 4 celebration

Raleigh fire crews have been distributing fireworks safety messaging across the city as Dorothea Dix Park prepares for a July 4 crowd and a 9:30 p.m. show. The city’s Fourth of July celebration opens its gates at 6 p.m. Saturday and is part of Raleigh’s America 250 programming, with music, activities, food, a market and free shuttle service from downtown parking decks.

North Carolina State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor has pushed the same message from the state level: leave fireworks to professional displays and do not set them off at home. State guidance says pyrotechnic displays must be handled by licensed operators, and consumer fireworks are not legal for general use in North Carolina.

The injury numbers explain why officials are pressing the point before the holiday. The North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal says emergency departments treat an average of 192 fireworks-related injuries each year, with about 72% of those visits happening in July. In 2020, the state recorded 229 fireworks-related emergency-department visits, the highest total in the recent data cited by the agency.

The most common injuries involve the hands, fingers, eyes and face, and the agency says recent national data found children under 5 made up more than half of estimated injuries. Raleigh Fire says its public fire-prevention outreach can also be brought to events through its request system, a reminder that the department’s holiday warning is part of a larger community safety effort in Wake County.

The city is expecting large crowds at Dorothea Dix Park, where families will gather for the professional display instead of risking the kinds of injuries fire officials see each year in neighborhoods across North Carolina. Raleigh’s message is blunt: the safest place to watch fireworks in the capital city is the public show, not the driveway or backyard.