Fire marshal lifts fireworks ban

Just in time for New Year’s Eve, the Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office has lifted its ban on the sale or use of restricted fireworks outside the city limits of any city or town in Travis County. The class of firework included in the order are “skyrockets with sticks” and “missiles with fins,” if that means anything to you. The lifting of the prohibition comes with a slew of cautions, reproduced in full below:

Before you use fireworks, please remember:

• Fireworks cause almost 20,000 fires a year
• Hospital emergency rooms see more than 9,000 injuries a year caused by fireworks
• Most fireworks injuries are caused by legal fireworks
• Sparklers burn hotter than a welder’s torch – they are not for little kids
• More than one-third of all fireworks-related injuries are kids less than 15 years old