New Year fireworks safety at home: a guide for Filipino families

Every January, hospitals across the Philippines treat hundreds of fireworks injuries — and almost all of them happen at home, in the hours around midnight. The good news: nearly every one of those injuries is preventable. We have made fireworks since 1948, and these are the same rules we follow with our own families.

01Buy only legal fireworks from licensed sellers

Buy from established, licensed dealers — not from street vendors or online sellers with no store. Licensed products are made to legal limits, labeled, and far more predictable.

• Never buy piccolo. It is illegal, and year after year it causes more injuries than any other product — most of them to children's hands.
• Skip anything with no label, no brand, or a price that seems too good.
• Watusi (dancing firecrackers) are banned — they are poisonous if a child swallows one.
• If a seller cannot tell you what a product does, do not buy it.

02Set up a safe firing spot

Pick the most open spot you have: a street cleared of cars, an empty lot, a wide driveway. Look up — no wires, no branches, no laundry lines, no low roofs.

• Keep a bucket of water and a pail of sand within reach before you light anything.
• Put fountains and cakes on flat, solid ground — never on a table or held in hand.
• Keep your unlit stock far from the firing spot, in a closed box, away from candles and cigarettes.
• Agree on one lighter: a sober adult. Everyone else stays back.

03Light it right

• Light one item at a time, at arm's length, using a long stick or punk — never your bare hand over the fuse.
• Step back immediately. Do not stand over anything while it fires.
• If something does not go off, do not go near it and never relight it. Wait ten minutes, then soak it in the water bucket.
• Never point or throw fireworks at people, animals, or houses.

04Keep children well away

Children should watch — from a distance, never light. Even sparklers (luces) burn hot enough to scar, so hold them with small kids, keep them away from faces and clothing, and drop spent sticks in the water bucket, not on the ground.

In the morning, sweep before the kids come out. Unexploded pieces look like toys, and picking them up is one of the most common ways children get hurt after New Year.

05The safest option of all

Watch the show instead of firing one. A community display run by a licensed team puts bigger, better fireworks in the sky with the safety handled by professionals. If your barangay, subdivision, or company wants to host one, that is exactly what we do — get in touch and we will take care of everything from permits to cleanup.