Leave fireworks to the professionals

We don't mean to be killjoys. Honest.

But there are 48 professional fireworks shows happening between Friday and Sunday in just our suburban area.

If you play it safe, the worst you come away with this weekend is a crick in your neck from all the skygazing and perhaps a bellyache from festival food.

In that case, count yourself lucky.

Others won't be as fortunate.

Despite the proliferation of fireworks distributors just footsteps over the border in Wisconsin (two operations just north of Richmond, Ill., are actually south of the Welcome to Wisconsin sign) it is not legal to have firecrackers, bottle rockets and Roman candles - let alone anything more potent - in Illinois.

The state has determined that the risk is too great.

Every Fourth of July we hear of someone somewhere in the suburbs losing a finger or worse as a result of fireworks. Whether it is the person actually firing them off, someone who picks up what he thought was a dud or, good grief, a curious toddler, such injuries can change lives.

Don't think it can happen to you?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 2006 study, 11 people that year died and an estimated 9,200 were treated in emergency departments across the United States for fireworks-related injuries. One in 20 of those injuries treated in an emergency room required hospitalization.

More than two-thirds of all fireworks-related injuries in 2006 happened between June 16 and July 16. In that time, nearly half were younger than 20; a third of that total were younger than 15.

Of those injuries, 2,300 were to the hands, 1,500 to the eyes and 1,400 to the head, face and ears.

Firecrackers caused the most injuries at 1,300, followed by sparklers (1,000) and rockets (800.)

Sparklers accounted for one-third of the injuries to children 4 and younger.

While sparklers and snakes and party poppers are not banned by the state, sparklers are like mini-welding torches. They reach temperatures of 1,200 degrees. What small child isn't going to be tempted to grab the sparkly part?

If a lecture in personal responsibility is not enough, there's also the issue of neighborliness. Loud bangs drive many pets into a panic. If you can't find your cat between now and July 15, try the basement. You can find them cowering in a corner under shelter.

In neighborhoods where gunfire is a fact of life, piling on with firecrackers can't do much to ease the nerves of residents.

And don't forget Newton's Second Law - that what must come up must come down. You probably know someone whose backyard gazebo or trampoline has been ruined by hot bottle rockets descending to earth.

So, if not for yourself, then for your neighbors. Leave it to the pros. And have a safe and happy Fourth of July.