What’s Up? Video: The Fire Guy offers wise safety tips for your Fourth of July celebrations

Grace Hallowell:

What’s Up, College Station? My name is Grace Hallowell, and today, I’m joined with Stu, the fire guy here. It’s summertime. People are spending more time outdoors. It’s getting hotter. So we’re here to talk about some summer fire safety.

Stuart Marrs:

That’s right, Grace. So the first thing I’m going to talk about is fireworks.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Stuart Marrs:

And what to do and what not to do with fireworks. And just a reminder, fireworks are not allowed within city limits. That’s City of College Station and City of Bryan rule. So no fireworks are allowed within the city limits. So do not plan on popping firecrackers if you’re going to be inside the city limits. Now, in the county, that’s another story. But for residents of the City of College Station, fireworks are not allowed.

Grace Hallowell:

Not allowed.

Stuart Marrs:

You can get them confiscated by deputy fire marshals or law enforcement. And you can receive a fine also, if you’re caught using fireworks. And that is because houses are so close together and so dense and so many people are around, that it’s not safe to use fireworks that are going to be flying in the air and causing sparks. What you don’t want is your Roman candle to land in your neighbor’s gutter and burn the roof off of their house.

Grace Hallowell:

Right. Exactly.

Stuart Marrs:

And we don’t want that either. So that’s why they’re not allowed. There are safe ways to enjoy the fireworks and the 4th of July. You can go to a professional show. Several of those are hosted in the area. You can also use alternatives to fireworks, like glow sticks or snappers and poppers.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Stuart Marrs:

And other things that light up, but don’t use the sparks and the heat and the flames. And what we see at the College Station Fire Department and fire departments across the country on the 4th of July is a lot of burn injuries, because people are using fireworks. They’re extremely hot, and people will burn their fingers, burn their hands, burn their face. And those are bad injuries to have. Very painful, but also, can be life changing. If you burn your eyes or inhale that hot gas and that hot smoke, you could burn the inside of your throat. Those could be life changing injuries.

Grace Hallowell:

Absolutely.

Stuart Marrs:

So we recommend you stay away from using fireworks on your own. Go to a professional show, or especially if you’ve got kids involved, use alternatives to fireworks.

Grace Hallowell:

I know, growing up, I always loved the poppers more than the actual fireworks, because I thought those were a bit more fun. And yes, in addition to the fireworks, grilling, bonfires, those are happening. What kind of safety tips do we have for those?

Stuart Marrs:

So let’s talk about bonfires. When you say “bonfire,” in this area, people think of a certain thing. They think of a giant fire, like we used to have on campus and now have off campus, The Bonfire. A bonfire, by definition though, is anything bigger than a three by three by three fire. Three feet by three feet by three feet. Any fire bigger than that, that you’re building in your backyard or your property, is considered, by definition, a bonfire. And those are not allowed at all.

Grace Hallowell:

Correct.

Stuart Marrs:

You can have a small fire for recreational purposes, for enjoyment, in your backyard. You can build a little fire in a fire pit or in a commercially available fire round.

Grace Hallowell:

Fire ring.

Stuart Marrs:

A fire ring, yeah. Thank you. So you can build a fire in your backyard, in a fire ring or in a fire pit, and enjoy it. You can roast your hot dogs and your marshmallows on it and have fun. But once it gets to be a certain size, which is three by three by three, it’s a bonfire, and it’s not allowed. And that’s when we see that your neighbors are calling in and telling us about it. And saying “This is a concern. It’s a huge fire back there. There’s a lot of flames.” Or “It’s making a lot of smoke, and it’s blowing over into my yard or blowing in through… I can smell it in my house.” And it becomes a nuisance. So we get several calls every year about those kind of backyard fires. And they’re usually just a nuisance for your neighbors, especially when you let it get too big. So maintain a small, nice, comfortable fire, not a bonfire. And it doesn’t have to be a Texas Aggie size bonfire to be, technically, a bonfire.

And people love to go outside and cook outside, whether you’re doing it on an open campfire type of fire or the grill. And we want to remind everybody, every year, to inspect their grill, whether you’re using gas or charcoal, just make sure that it’s in good shape, that all the gas lines are in good shape, that all the pieces and parts are there and working, and then, make sure you’re setting that up and using it in a safe place. You want to be cooking and have that thing hot where the kids are not playing around. You don’t want them chasing a ball by the grill, when you’ve got it hot.

Grace Hallowell:

Right. Or pets.

Stuart Marrs:

Or pets also. And you always want to be out there with it. That means, when you’re cooking on the grill, you’re dedicated to the grill, right there. Keep an eye on it. Don’t be running back in and getting the other supplies and bringing them out. Designate a runner to go do that for you. If you’re the grill master, stay with the grill. Let someone else do the errands back into the kitchen and go get more salt and pepper and go get the other spatula or something. You stay with the grill, that way you can keep an eye on it, because those things will flare up. And not just ruin your food, but flare up and ruin something else, especially if you’re grilling too close to the house or you’re grilling on a combustible surface, like a wood deck. So be mindful of where you’re grilling. Set it up in a safe area, and keep others away from it.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, absolutely. And if things do start to get out of hand, you never plan for them too, you always plan for things to go correctly and in your favor, but sometimes accidents do happen. What should you do if things start to get out of hand? Should you intervene yourself? Should you call you guys? What should you do?

Stuart Marrs:

There’s just a couple of basic things you can do. If you’re going to have a backyard campfire or if you’re grilling with charcoal or something like that, you can have the water hose handy. Make sure that’s nearby. Just in case something does jump out of that fire ring or that fire pit, just in case something gets knocked over, you’re there with water to handle the situation. But also, if someone does get burned, the best thing to do after someone burns their skin is to cool that skin down. You can do that right away. Before you call us or have anybody else help, cool the skin down with something. Usually, water works really well, or ice water, a cold drink. I’ve actually burned myself before, and there was somebody’s iced tea sitting there. So my hand went into their iced tea, because I needed to cool my skin. And so, I’m so sorry about your ice tea, but I got burned and I needed to cool it down.

Grace Hallowell:

Priorities.

Stuart Marrs:

So the best thing to do is to cool the skin that you just burned, however you can. And that stops the burning process, because even after you pull away from something hot, the skin is still burning and you’re still having damage caused until you cool it down. So cool it down right away. There’s some things you do just without medical treatment, like aloe and things like that, to treat a minor burn. But if it’s a major burn, if it covers a lot of skin surface, call 911, get some help right away. We have the equipment and tools on the ambulance to help with a major burn and to support you until we can get you to a hospital. So don’t be afraid to call 911 if you think you need us for a burn injury or something like that.

That also makes me think of just heat related problems. Because this week especially, we’re going to be up above triple digits several days in a row. You’re going to be out. If you’re going to be out in that kind of heat working, you want to be hydrated.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Stuart Marrs:

You want to plan your work to do it early in the day, so that you’re missing that hottest part of the day and get the work done in the morning and stay hydrated. If you’re sweating, drink Gatorade. You’re sweating out those salts. Drink electrolytes to replenish them. Otherwise, drink water. And I always say, if you’re not drinking so much water that you have to go pee, you’re not drinking enough water. You have to drink a lot of water when you have this kind of Texas summer and this heat that we have. So stay hydrated by drinking lots of water. Use some Gatorade or a sports drink in there. And just be smart about it. Take breaks, take rest, stay inside, and find some air conditioning when it’s super hot outside. And avoid those kind of heat related injuries and heat related exposures. If you get to the point where you’re dizzy, where you’ve stopped sweating, you’re in trouble. You need to stop activity, rest, call us, call 911, and get some help. Because when you get to the point where you’ve stopped sweating, you’re in bad shape. You’ve got heat exhaustion.

Grace Hallowell:

Well, thank you so much. If people have questions, where can they go to find out more?

Stuart Marrs:

We have lots of information about the fire department at cstx.gov/fire. You can find a lot of information about what we do, how we do it, and other safety tips there at our website, on the city website.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. And there’s also helpful videos too, particularly about grilling safety. I know I show that one from time to time in our community living course. And it’s always, people enjoy that one, because they don’t think, “Oh, I’m too close to my house with my grill. That could be a bad idea.” But thank you so much for joining me today, Stuart.

Stuart Marrs:

Absolutely. Thank you, Grace.

You’re welcome. And that’s what’s up.

Grace Hallowell:

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