When I was younger, my brother was lighting, then throwing firecrackers, and in the process nearly lost a couple of fingers. I would strongly urge everyone not to do this. Lay the firecrackers on the ground and light them — don’t try to throw lit fireworks of any kind. Really stupid move that is NOT worth the risk.

Pointing and shooting roman candles, bottle rockets or anything else at people is another really stupid thing to do. I have scars on my face to prove it.

I listened to the firefighters talk about firework safety on KGSO’s morning show today. It was neat to hear how Wichita firefighters are so dedicated to the safety of our citizens - even when they’re off the job. My hat is off to their hard work.

Personally, the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday because we celebrate the signing of our Declaration of Indpendence, which I had to steal to keep the bad guys from getting it and destroying the map on the back leading to the secret treasure of the Knights Templar!!

And don’t light and throw…very unsafe.

I like to go fast. When I was little me and my cousins used to race. My daddy would tie strings of black cats to the back of our big wheel bikes cause we thought it would make us faster. One time it caught my hair on fire, but I won cause if you’re not first, your last.

I was 23 and living in the DRY climate of Arizona, goofing off with Roman candles. The POLICE came and told me it was a huge issue because of the dry shake-style roofs on some of the older homes. So, we were ticketed and court-ordered to go see a 4th of July Fire Safety seminar. After seeing that movie, I never picked up a firework. That was 20 years ago! Do everyone a favor and let the firefighters NOT have to respond to any fires on the 4th.

I’m not gonna lie. I love blowing sh*t up. But I always do it with the utmost safety in mind for myself and others around me.

I play for keeps

I think sometimes, kids just get bored and chew on candles

I used to think fireworks were “cool” but - having seen the danger of them first hand - I have ALL NEW respect for celebratory explosives. I am really glad that our fire fighters are educating people to encourage safety and are willing to risk their lives to keep us safe on top of it.