Celebrating with your own fireworks? Keep safety in mind, officials advise.

The skies will see lots of fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend, but officials want you to be safe if you plan on setting off your own, illegally.

Fireworks are illegal, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Dave Bristow said, but officials are not naive enough to think people won’t do it.

“We just ask for people, for their own safety, not to use them,” Bristow said. “You have the professionals that do this and there’s a reason the pros do it. Because they know what they’re doing and a lot of times, you don’t know what you’re getting (if you set off your own).”

“If you’re going to, be extra careful, and we ask people not to.”

Those caught illegally using fireworks can be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Fireworks start an average of 18,500 fires per year, causing an average of three deaths, 40 civilian injuries, and an average of $43 million in direct property damage, according to the National Fire Prevention Association.

In 2015, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 11,900 people for fireworks related injuries, and children under 15 years old accounted for 26 percent of the estimated injuries that year, according to the NFPA, citing Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2015 Fireworks Annual Report.

Manatee Memorial Hospital, however, doesn’t usually see a large number of fireworks-related injuries around the Fourth, the director of the Emergency Care Center said in an email through the hospital’s spokesperson.

In a Facebook post, Manatee Memorial Hospital reminded followers to protect their eyes, have water nearby and that adults should supervise all fireworks activities.

The CPSC also advises people to leave the fireworks shows to the professionals, but those who do choose to set off their own should light them one at a time and step back quickly, and never relight one that did not go off, buy unlicensed or illegal fireworks, let children play with or light fireworks.

If you’re not planning to set any off yourself and aren’t sure where to go, don’t worry. There are several fireworks displays in the Bradenton area over the holiday weekend.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Celebrating with your own fireworks? Keep safety in mind, officials advise.."