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Background and Methodology <br />Each year following the Independence Day holiday, the Orange County Fire Authority <br />gathers data in order to analyze the overall impact of fireworks throughout Orange <br />County. The information included in this report was contributed by hospital emergency <br />rooms, urgent care facilities and Orange County Fire Departments to supplement OCFA's <br />own fireworks data. <br />Injury data was solicited from a total of 25 hospital emergency rooms and 103 urgent care <br />facilities throughout Orange County for the study period of .Tune 30th-July 5, 2019. This <br />year, we received responses from 5 urgent care facilities and 8 hospital emergency <br />rooms, for an overall response rate of 10%. OCFA's own Emergency Medical Services <br />data was also analyzed for injuries related to fireworks. The fireworks injuries contained <br />in this report are only those that were reported to us; it is likely many more injuries <br />occurred that were either not treated or not reported. National statistics extracted from <br />the most recent 2018 Consumer Product Safety Commission's Fireworks Report were <br />also used for a comparison study. <br />Fireworks -related fire incident and property loss information was gathered from all 11 <br />Orange County municipal fire departments. Narratives from the 76 fireworks -related fire <br />incidents that OCFA responded to were analyzed for qualitative information regarding the <br />impact of these incidents within Orange County communities. Local newspaper and social <br />media sources were also utilized for information regarding fireworks -related injuries and <br />various fire -related incidents that were caused by fireworks. <br />4 <br />