Even if you are following all safety precautions regarding the operation of at-home fireworks, state fire officials are warning of external factors that could cause your Fourth of July celebration to go up in flames.
The New Jersey Division of Fire Safety wants to make residents aware of something called "flame jetting." That happens when a container of flammable liquid with a long neck is poured out near a flame source, and the vapors built up inside the neck ignite in a streak of fire that can reach 10 to 12 feet long.
According to Richard Mikutsky, NJDFS director and state fire marshal, conditions need to be just right for a flame jet to occur, but the results can be catastrophic.
"The container needs airspace above the fuel, and what happens is the fuel evaporates into the airspace, and then it makes a mix of the fuel and oxygen," Mikutsky said. "The forces that are within the container come out under pressure as millions of tiny little droplets, basically a mist."