Fireworks sales have grown tenfold since the late 1970s. Yet, injuries from backyard firecrackers have decreased during the same period, experts say.

“As we’ve gotten older, we have realized the dangers involved with fireworks, and the liabilities,” Chattanooga Fire Marshal Craig Haney said.

Nearly four decades ago, in his hometown in Mississippi, Mr. Haney said he saw an open box of fireworks explode when an errant rocket started a chain reaction.

“All the fireworks ignited at the same time. All the boxes were set on fire,” he said. “People ran away in all directions and, in the end, there was considerable damage to a police car. I never will forget that,” Mr. Haney said.

Today, people are more aware of fireworks dangers, he added. In 1978, Americans bought 28 million pounds of fireworks, and 3.8 out of every 10,000 people reported injuries.

Two years ago, U.S. consumers bought 278.2 million pounds of fireworks. Meanwhile, injuries dropped to 3.3 per 100,000 people, the American Pyrotechnics Association reports.

Experts credit fireworks-makers’ compliance with product safety laws and increased customer awareness of hazards, according to the National Council on Fireworks Safety.

Since 9/11, federal officials also bolstered enforcement of fireworks rules. Today’s cherry bombs, for example, contain no more than a government-mandated 50 milligrams of explosive material.

Fireworks still cause harm to people and property. In 2006, the latest year for which data is available, 9,200 people were hurt by fireworks. More than 30,000 fires from fireworks blazed nationally, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Illegal explosives, such as M-80s and M-100s, account for one-third of all Fourth of July injuries, the National Council on Fireworks Safety reports.

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