In the second summer of legalized consumer fireworks, Iowa City had more than a dozen citations and a few lost appendages in the emergency room.

As Fourth of July extended holiday comes to an end, so do the fireworks.

Hans House, a University of Iowa clinical professor and emergency-medicine physician, said there were around four injures this year. He was on duty the day after the Fourth.

“That was about the same number as last year, which had increased since the lifting of the restriction on explosive fireworks,” House said in an email to The Daily Iowan.

He said the injuries all involved loss of digits; one case involved the loss of a hand.

House said he believes that fireworks are dangerous and should not be in the hands of the general public, especially during the Fourth of July, when people tend to have alcohol in their system.

“These fireworks are literally bombs; they cause the same injuries as seen in warfare and terrorist attacks,” House said.

In Iowa since 2017, vendors can sell fireworks from June 1 to July 8, the last day to buy fireworks until December for the New Year season.

Iowa City, however, prohibits the use of fireworks within city limits.

This year, there have been 121 calls for service and 18 citations for fireworks between June 1 and July 8, Iowa City police public-information Sgt. Derek Frank said in an email to the DI.

Eighty-six of the calls for service and 15 of the citations occurred between July 1 and July 8.

This is much lower than in the inaugural year of fireworks in Iowa. From June 1 to July 8, 2017, Iowa City police responded to over 400 calls regarding fireworks. In 2016 during the same time period, there were only 32.

— Sara Avalos