Bonfire Night can be fun for family members of all ages, but it’s important to remember that fireworks are explosives, and should be handled with care and respect.
If you’re having an actual bonfire, you should be particularly careful not to place your fireworks too close to it, and of course you should never, ever dispose of dud or spent fireworks in the bonfire.
Storage
If you must have fireworks in the same area as your bonfire, keep them as far from the fire as possible, and make sure they are inside a suitable container, to protect them against any sparks that drift across on the breeze.
An old biscuit tin with a securely fitting lid is a good option, and will protect them not just against sparks, but also against any damp or moisture that is around on a November evening.
When you need to fetch a firework, ideally you should do it one at a time, replace the lid properly each time, and never take the lighting wick over to the container of fireworks while it’s lit.
Lighting
Always read the instructions in full before you place a firework anywhere near anything that could ignite it.
Make sure you have a torch, if it’s going to be too dark to read without it – and don’t use a naked flame to provide the light to read by.
Use a lighting wick wherever possible, as opposed to matches or other naked flames, and make sure your firework is placed on a sturdy basis – ideally part-buried in a container of sand.
Once lit, retire quickly to the full recommended distance, and don’t be tempted to use large display fireworks in a small garden setting.
If the firework does not go off, do not go back to it – it may still be lit, and fuses can often take longer than you expect to burn down.
Clearly you will, eventually, have to return to it, but make sure that there is absolutely no doubt over whether it is still lit before you do.
Finally, don’t discard dud or spent fireworks by throwing them on the bonfire – they may still contain gunpowder that did not fully burn off.
Instead, thoroughly soak any duds and leftover casings – something the November weather may do for you anyway – to make sure they cannot accidentally light either during the rest of the night, or until you are able to properly dispose of them.
Mines, Cakes and Barrages
For an impressive display with only one fuse to light, mines, cakes and barrages are all good options – these are the square or circular blocks that contain several individual fireworks, all linked together.
Simply light them once and retire to a safe distance, as instructed on the packaging, and the firework itself should do the rest.
You can enjoy a choreographed display lasting for several minutes, without the dangers of having a large number of individual fireworks alongside your bonfire for hours at a time.
This is a guest post contributed by Ghengis Fireworks who is the UK’s largest independent fireworks retailer.
