Diwali safety checklist: burns, eyes and ears, and what to do in the first minutes

In short: Most Diwali injuries are burns to the hands and face and eye injuries, often in unsupervised children. Cool a burn under running water for 20 minutes, never ice, butter or toothpaste. For an eye injury, do not rub, press or pull anything out: shield it and go to hospital. Never use carbide guns.

Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November this year. For most families it is the best night of the year. For emergency, burns and eye departments it is one of the busiest. Last Diwali, AIIMS New Delhi’s eye centre treated 190 people with firecracker and carbide gun injuries over the festival, 19% more than the year before, and about 60 children needed eye surgery. In Madhya Pradesh, nearly 300 people, many of them children, were hurt by home-made carbide “guns”.

Almost all of it is preventable, and the first few minutes after an injury change how it heals. This checklist covers what injures people, the first aid that helps, the remedies that make things worse, and when to go to hospital.

What injuries does Diwali actually cause?

Indian hospital studies tell a consistent story.

• Burns, mostly small but on the hands and face. Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi saw 1,373 firecracker injuries over the Diwali days of 2002 to 2010. 73% of patients were aged 5 to 30, and 91% had burns covering less than 5% of the body. Small does not mean minor: a burn on the palm or fingers can scar and stiffen a hand for life.
• Diyas, not just crackers. In the same hospital’s 2018 to 2022 records, 32.5% of Diwali burns were caused by diyas, most often a lit diya left on the floor. 70.4% of these patients were women, and one in three needed admission. A saree, dupatta or lehenga that brushes a floor diya catches fast.
• Children who were alone. In a Delhi study of 65 children hurt on Diwali night, 90% were unsupervised. The hands (62%), face (32%) and eyes (10%) were injured most, and the commonest single mistake was lighting a cracker while holding it.
• Eyes, including bystanders. A 2023 to 2024 study across three eye hospitals in Central and Western India found 62.7% of the 67 patients were children and 34.3% were bystanders, not the person lighting the cracker. More than 40% arrived seeing worse than 6/60, and the average cost of care was ₹31,500. At CMC Vellore, one in every 12 children with a firework eye injury lost the sight of that eye.

How do you give first aid for a burn?

This is the advice from WHO and the NHS. Learn it before the night, not during it.

1. Stop the burning. Move the person away from the fire. If clothes are alight, stop them running, get them to the ground and roll them, or smother the flames with a blanket.
2. Cool the burn under cool running tap water for 20 minutes. Start as soon as you can. If there is no tap, pour clean cool water from a bottle or bucket, or use a wet cloth. Twenty minutes feels long; set a timer.
3. Do not use ice, iced water, butter, oil, ghee, toothpaste, haldi or any paste. WHO lists all of these as things not to put on a burn.
4. Take off rings, bangles, watches and clothing near the burn before it swells, but leave anything that is stuck to the skin.
5. Keep the person warm. Cool the burn, not the whole person. This matters most for children and large burns.
6. Cover the burn loosely with cling film laid over it (not wrapped round a limb) or a clean, non-fluffy cloth. No cotton wool, no sticky plasters.
7. Do not burst blisters. For pain, paracetamol as the label directs is reasonable.
8. Get help for any burn on the face, hands, feet or genitals, any large or deep burn, any chemical or electrical burn, or any burn in a baby or an older adult. Call 112 or 108 for a serious burn.

What should you do for a firecracker eye injury?

Eye injuries are where good intentions do the most harm. There are two situations, and they need opposite things.

If the eye was hit by a blast or a fragment, is bleeding or cut, looks misshapen, or has something stuck in it:

1. Do not rub it. The American Academy of Ophthalmology warns that rubbing can make the injury worse.
2. Do not rinse it, press on it, or put on any drops, ointment, ghee or rose water.
3. Do not try to pull anything out, however small it looks. The NHS says never remove an object that has pierced the eye.
4. Shield it without pressure. Tape the bottom half of a paper cup over the eye, resting on the bones around it, so nothing touches the eyeball.
5. Go to an eye hospital or emergency department at once, and do not let the injured person drive. The AAO also advises against taking pain medicines before seeing a doctor.

If it was only powder, smoke or a chemical splash, with no cut or wound:

1. Rinse with plenty of clean running water for at least 20 minutes, holding the eyelids open, as the NHS advises for chemicals.
2. Then go to an eye hospital the same night, and keep rinsing on the way if you can. Chemical burns can look mild at first.

Why are carbide guns so dangerous?

Carbide “guns” are home-made pipes filled with calcium carbide, which gives off an explosive gas when it meets water. They spread through social media videos last year and are sold as toys.

At IGIMS Patna, 37 patients came in with carbide gun eye injuries in just 10 days of October 2025. All were male, with a median age of 15. Every injury happened at home, mostly while the boy was looking into the pipe after it failed to fire. Almost two thirds had severe chemical and heat burns of the eye, which can damage the stem cells the cornea needs to heal. Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior banned the devices after last year’s injuries, and AIIMS Delhi alone treated 18 to 20 carbide gun injuries.

The rule is simple: do not buy, make or allow carbide guns, and if any device or cracker fails to go off, never look into it or go back to it.

How loud is too loud for your ears?

Indian law already caps cracker noise. Under the Environment (Protection) Rules, as published by the Central Pollution Control Board, crackers louder than 125 dB(AI) or 145 dB(C)pk, measured 4 metres from where they burst, cannot be made, sold or used, and the limit is lower for joined “series” crackers. Since 2005 the Supreme Court has barred sound-emitting crackers between 10 pm and 6 am. In 2026 the Court asked the CPCB whether some cracker types could be allowed to be louder, but no such order has been passed, so the existing limits stand.

WHO’s community noise guidelines say impulse sounds such as fireworks should never exceed a peak of 140 dB for adults and 120 dB for children, measured close to the ear. A study of firecracker injuries found most crackers were louder than 110 dB even at 6 metres, and that blast noise damages both hearing and balance organs in the inner ear.

To protect ears:

• keep children, babies and older relatives well back, and indoors for the biggest bombs and series crackers;
• use foam earplugs or ear muffs for anyone who must be close, especially children;
• never light a cracker in a narrow lane or stairwell, where the sound bounces back.

Ringing or muffled hearing after a loud bang often settles within a day. The NHS advises an urgent doctor’s appointment for sudden hearing loss in one or both ears, or hearing loss with ear pain or discharge, because some causes need prompt treatment. Bleeding from the ear, severe pain or dizziness after a blast needs an emergency department.

Do green crackers protect your lungs?

Only partly. Green crackers are lower-emission products developed under CSIR-NEERI and must carry a QR code you can scan to check them. They are less polluting, not pollution-free, and they still burn and bang like any other cracker.

The morning after Diwali often has the worst air of the year. Anyone with asthma, COPD or heart disease should stay indoors with windows shut while crackers are going off nearby, keep taking their regular medicines, and carry their reliever inhaler. Our guide to the air pollution season covers masks, AQI and when to see a doctor.

How do you protect children, older relatives and pets?

Children

• An adult lights every cracker. Children watch from a marked line.
• Very young children should not hold even sparklers; older children hold them at arm’s length, one at a time, and drop finished ones into water.
• Cotton clothes that fit, not synthetic, flowing or layered outfits, as the Delhi children’s study recommends.
• No crackers in hands, pockets or under tins, and no “throwing” crackers.

Older relatives

• Place diyas on raised, stable surfaces, away from curtains and the edge of saree pallus and dupattas. The Safdarjung diya study points straight at floor diyas.
• Keep walkways clear and lit, so nobody trips over a diya or a spent box.
• Bring people with lung or heart disease indoors before the bursting starts, with their medicines to hand.

Pets and street animals

The RSPCA’s advice translates well to Indian homes: walk dogs in daylight, make a quiet “safe den” indoors before dark, close windows and curtains, let a frightened animal hide rather than coaxing it out, and make sure it wears a collar with your phone number in case it bolts. Ask your vet in advance if your pet panics every year. Never burst crackers near animals, cattle or shelters.

The Diwali safety checklist

Screenshot this, or print it for the gate.

Before the night

• Buy only from licensed shops; check the QR code on green crackers
• No carbide guns, no home-made crackers, no “bombs” from social media
• Two buckets of water, a bucket of sand and a cotton blanket by the bursting spot
• Earplugs or ear muffs for children
• Save 112 and 108, and know your nearest emergency and eye hospitals
• Diyas on raised, stable surfaces, away from curtains
• Inhalers and regular medicines in reach for anyone with asthma or COPD

During

• An adult lights every cracker, with a long incense stick, at arm’s length
• Open ground, away from vehicles, dry leaves and buildings
• Cotton clothes; tie back hair, dupattas and saree pallus
• Everyone else stays behind a line several metres back
• One cracker at a time; never relight a dud, never look into it
• Spent sparklers and duds straight into the water bucket
• Stop by 10 pm, or earlier if your state’s order says so

After

• Soak all spent crackers in water before throwing them out
• Count heads, check hands and eyes, and ask about ringing ears
• Windows shut the next morning if the air is bad

Myths and facts about Diwali injuries

1. Myth: “Ice is the fastest way to cool a burn.”

Fact: WHO says not to put ice on a burn. Cool running tap water for about 20 minutes is what helps, and the body should be kept warm.

2. Myth: “Toothpaste, butter or haldi soothes a burn.”

Fact: They may feel cool for a moment, but WHO lists toothpaste, butter, oils and traditional pastes among things never to put on a burn. They do not cool the skin, and the doctor then has to clean them off a raw wound.

3. Myth: “Pop the blister so it heals faster.”

Fact: A blister is a natural dressing. Both WHO and the NHS say do not burst it.

4. Myth: “Rub the eye to get the speck out.”

Fact: Rubbing can turn a small scratch into a deeper injury, or push a fragment further in. Do not rub, press or dig.

5. Partly true: “Wash the eye with water straight away.”

Fact: Right for powder, smoke or a chemical splash: rinse for at least 20 minutes. Wrong if the eye was hit by a blast, is cut or bleeding, or has something stuck in it: then do not rinse; shield it and go.

6. Myth: “Green crackers are safe.”

Fact: They pollute less, but they are not pollution-free, and they burn and bang like any cracker. All the burn, eye and noise precautions still apply.

7. Myth: “If a cracker doesn’t go off, just check it.”

Fact: Duds can go off late. In the Patna carbide gun study, every injury happened at home, mostly while someone looked into a device that had failed to fire. Leave it, wait, then soak it in water from a distance.

Red flags: when to call 112 or 108

Call 112 (or 108 for an ambulance) or go to an emergency department at once if:

• a burn is large, deep, charred, white or leathery, or on the face, hands, feet, genitals or a joint;
• someone breathed in smoke and is coughing, hoarse, wheezing or has soot around the nose or mouth;
• clothes caught fire on a person, or the injured person is a baby or an older adult;
• there was a blast injury to the eye, any change in vision, bleeding from the eye, or something stuck in it;
• a chemical or carbide splash reached the eye, even if it now feels better;
• there is bleeding from the ear, severe ear pain or dizziness after a blast;
• a hand was injured by a cracker that burst while held.

See a doctor within a day if a burn blisters widely or becomes more red, swollen or painful, if hearing has not returned to normal, or if an eye stays red, watery or sensitive to light.

The bottom line

Most Diwali injuries come from a few predictable moments: a cracker lit in the hand, a dud someone went back to, a child left alone, a diya on the floor, a face too close to a bang. An adult in charge, a bucket of water and a few metres of distance prevent most of them. If someone is hurt, cool a burn under running water for 20 minutes, never ice or toothpaste; never rub, press or rinse an eye that has been hit, and shield it on the way to hospital; and do not let anyone near a carbide gun.

This article is general health information, not medical advice. In an emergency, call 112 or 108, or go to the nearest hospital.

Frequently asked questions

Should I put ice or ice-cold water on a firecracker burn?

No. WHO's burns fact sheet says not to apply ice, oils, butter, toothpaste or traditional pastes to a burn. Hold the burn under cool running tap water instead, for about 20 minutes, starting as soon as you can. If the burn is large, or the person is a small child, keep the rest of the body warm while you cool the burnt area, because WHO also warns against letting a burns patient get too cold.

Something went into my child's eye while bursting crackers. Should I wash it out?

It depends on what happened. If it was powder, smoke or a chemical splash and the eye is not cut, rinse it with plenty of clean running water for at least 20 minutes, as the NHS advises for chemicals, and go to an eye hospital. If the eye was hit by a blast or a fragment, is bleeding, looks misshapen or has something stuck in it, do not rinse, rub or press it: tape a paper cup over the eye and go straight to hospital.

When does a Diwali burn need a hospital?

Go to hospital, or call 112, if the burn is large or deep, is on the face, hands, feet, genitals or a joint, was caused by a chemical or electricity, has charred, white or leathery skin, or if the person is a baby, an older adult, or breathed in smoke. A small, red, painful burn on an adult's arm can usually be treated at home after 20 minutes of cooling, but see a doctor if it blisters widely, becomes more painful or red after a day or two, or oozes pus.

Are green crackers safe for children with asthma?

They are safer than ordinary crackers for the air, but not safe. Green crackers are lower-emission products developed under CSIR-NEERI and carry a QR code, but they are less polluting, not pollution-free, and they still burn and bang. A child with asthma should stay indoors with windows shut while crackers are being burst nearby, keep taking their preventer inhaler, and carry their reliever. Seek urgent help if the reliever is not working.

What time are firecrackers allowed in India?

Since a 2005 Supreme Court judgment, sound-emitting crackers may not be burst between 10 pm and 6 am anywhere in India, and never in silence zones around hospitals, schools and courts. Crackers louder than 125 dB(AI) or 145 dB(C)pk at 4 metres are banned outright under the Environment (Protection) Rules. Courts and state governments often set narrower windows each year, especially in Delhi-NCR, so check your state's order for this Diwali.