The Fine Print of Fireworks: How to Ensure You’re Covered When It Comes to Lighting Fireworks at Your Home

New Year’s Eve is well-known for champagne, dancing, and fireworks displays created by both trained professionals and at-home amateurs.

If you’re planning to ring in the new year with some backyard explosives, it's important to think, truly think about what you’re doing - before you strike a match or use a lighter on your first firecracker, sparkler, smoke bomb, bottle rocket, or other forms of incendiary entertainment. For all their fun, fireworks are capable of causing serious injuries to persons and substantial property damage. Such losses can have significant financial consequences, so it's important to know whether you are insured if you cause a fireworks accident.

Examples:

• Imagine setting off fireworks in your driveway for your children and their friends. Suddenly, a sparkler you gave to a neighbor's child violently flares up, burning her hand and face.
• While setting off bottle rockets, one smashes through a window of a house across the street. The rocket sets the home's living room curtains on fire. It then spreads to the carpeting and the room's furnishings. The local fire department responds, putting out the fire. There are thousands of dollars in damage caused by fire and water.

In the first example, your homeowners policy could cover her injuries in a couple of ways. If the injuries are minor, her medical treatment could be handled under the Medical Payments portion. However, if the child's injuries are more serious and her parents sue, your policy's liability portion should handle your legal defense and a legal judgment.

In the latter example, one could be found negligent for causing the fire and subsequent damage. A homeowners policy usually handles claims such as these. However, you should also be aware of the limitations.

Legal Issue

If it's illegal for you to set off fireworks, this legal hurdle could result in any loss being excluded by the policy.

Business Issue

A homeowners policy is meant to handle losses related to owning and living in a home. There's no coverage for a person who uses their home for making, selling, storing, or distributing fireworks. Any business activity involving fireworks will cause a big problem if a loss occurs.

Who Is Injured Issue

Injuries to yourself or others in your household are not covered because Medical Payments and Liability coverage is designed to handle loss suffered by persons outside of your household.

Intentional Loss Issue

There's no coverage if an injury or damage to property is not an accident. Tossing a firecracker or aiming a bottle rocket at another person could be considered deliberate, even when no injury was intended. Homeowners policies commonly exclude intentional acts and their consequences.

So, when dealing with fireworks, make sure they're legal, that they're used carefully, and that they are only used for entertainment. For further questions about the risks associated with fireworks, contact the experts at Williams Insurance.