With growing environmental concerns about air quality and pollution from wildfires, some are questioning the impact of fireworks on Michigan's environment. This comes especially after last year’s shows, when Detroit's air quality index reached close to 500, the hazardous zone, on July 5, 2024.
“We can forecast when is going to be the highest (air) particulate numbers of the year. And that's usually going to be around the 4th of July,” Jim Haywood, a senior meteorologist at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said. “We tell people every year around the Fourth of July that the air quality is going to be a little bit worse. But hopefully we never see it to the extent that it was last year.”
He explained that the air quality last year was partly caused by a lack of wind, leaving the smoke with nowhere to go.
“That was just really unusual,” he said.
However, even in typical years, it is still common to see air quality reach unhealthy levels after fireworks.
Perry Samson is a professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan. One year, he became curious about the level of PM2.5, or fine inhalable particles, in the air after the driveway fireworks show he put on for his grandkids. With a sensor he bought, he measured his yard and started studying the data from other sensors across the country.
This prompted him to conduct his research study, “Oh Say Can You Breathe,” where he examined air quality levels from cities across the U.S. after the Fourth of July.
“There is a tremendous increase in air pollution at night, no surprise,” Samson said. “But in some places, the level was far greater than I expected.”
He explained that any particle level above 35 micrograms is considered unhealthy. But he said that the air quality index has built-in days for exceeding values, meaning that a handful of “unhealthy” days per year are still within the normal air quality levels overall.
“If you are affected by dust and smoke in the air, then you should probably be cautious on the night of July 4th,” Samson said. He recommended that people with asthma or other breathing issues stay inside, wear a mask, or stay upwind of the fireworks.
In addition to air quality, there has been growing research on the impact of fireworks on wildlife and water quality.
Jennifer Jermalowicz-Jones is a water resource director and certified lake professional. She has been researching the effects of fireworks on inland lakes across the state.
“Everybody has always assumed that because the fireworks disintegrate in the air, by the time they reach the water, a lot of those components have fallen apart. But what we're now learning is even when they hit the water, they're taking a lot of those metals with them,” she said.
She explained that these chemicals can harm the water quality in smaller and shallower lakes, potentially damaging aquatic life.
Ultimately, she said, it comes down to the specific ingredients in each firework.
“I would ask communities that have a small lake to be mindful,” she said. “A lot of these lakes, as part of their social capital, engage in community events like fireworks shows. This is ingrained in their culture. To mandate that that culture be removed is very delicate, even though the science may support restricting it on certain water bodies.”
While Jermalowicz-Jones said there is still a lot of research to be done on the environmental impacts of fireworks on lakes and wildlife, Haywood and Samson said that there should not be too much concern when it comes to air quality long-term.
“There are a lot of people out there who say we don't need to be adding air quality issues. But again, it's going to be a short-term thing,” Haywood said. “The numbers are high for a little while, but not horribly.”
Samson said he is a big fan of fireworks and plans to see them this year.
“I love fireworks,” he said. “These air quality standards allow us to break the standards for a few days each year. So on the whole, for most Americans, I don't know there's necessarily a worry here.”
