Knox Know-It-All: Are fireworks really all that dangerous?

Sure, safety experts warn people every Fourth of July that fireworks are dangerous.

And yes, technically they're illegal in Knox County anyway.

But blowing stuff up is a time-honored American tradition. Rockets and bombs are even mentioned in the national anthem.

So Knox Know-It-All tried to get beyond the standard safety rhetoric and asked a local firefighter: Really, what's the worst that could happen?

You could shoot your eye out and burn down the neighbor's house, said Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran.

"I've seen where people had Roman candles go off in their face — black powder, pitted burns that were likely permanent," said Corcoran, who's been a firefighter since 1994.

That's a common injury, he said, among people who make the mistake of looking down the hole of a launcher tube to see if the last round has fired.

Corcoran also routinely sees second- and third-degree burns to the palms of hands, fingers and feet. (By the way, handling fireworks in flip-flops is just asking for trouble.)

It's not only caused by the big firepower, either.

"We see more injuries from sparklers than anything else," he said of the children's favorites, which usually burn with aluminum- or magnesium-based fuel. "It burns white hot. It'll burn a hole through your skin."

KFD responded to 22 fireworks-related calls over last year's holiday weekend, including seven that involved medical emergencies.

Then there's the potential for property damage. Corcoran offered a few things that most patriotic Americans likely won't bother to think about before they light the wick on those backyard mortar tubes:

Do you know which way the wind's blowing? And when's the last time you cleaned out your home's rain gutters?

"That's just a nest of kindling," Corcoran said.

Better yet — with the past week's triple-digit temps, when's the last time you watered your lawn?

"The grass already is brittle in places," he said. "That's prime conditions for a fire."

Fireworks set off two grass fires in Knoxville during last year's festivities.

For those who have a safe — and legal — location to light a few M-80s or Cherry Bombs, Corcoran stressed that revelers keep the fun within arm's reach of a garden hose and immediately douse all spent charges in water.

Better yet, "What we do recommend for the citizens of Knox County is that they take in a professional pyrotechnics show," he said.

As such, the city of Knoxville will cap its own daylong festival at World's Fair Park with a Fireworks Spectacular, beginning at 9:35 p.m. Wednesday.

So have a safe Fourth of July. And never look down the tube.