Firecracker Safety Guide: Rules, Do's & Don'ts
Firecracker safety guide (PESO-sourced): setup rules, lighting technique, the 10pm-6am window, the SC noise limit, and where only green crackers are legal.
This firecracker safety guide sets out the setup rules, timing limits and lighting technique that prevent most cracker injuries before they happen, sourced from PESO's official Deepavali safety notice, not general advice. Read it once with the household before anyone opens a box.
The short answer:
- Light every cracker at ground level with a candle or agarbathi and step back; never hold a lit cracker or bend over it.
- Keep a bucket of water within reach before the first cracker is lit — PESO's own line is that every major fire starts small.
- One person lights one item at a time; everyone else watches from a safe distance.
- Don't burst sound crackers outside PESO's general window (no sound crackers 10 pm–6 am), and check your state's court-ordered hours too, some are narrower.
- Where local air quality is moderate or worse, only NGT-permitted green crackers may legally be used; the Supreme Court's 125 dB(AI) noise ceiling at 4 metres applies to every cracker sold.
On this page
On this page
For step-by-step treatment if an injury does happen, see first aid for cracker burns. For rules specific to children, see crackers safety for kids. For storing what's left over, see how to store crackers safely, and browse the full crackers guides library for more.
Before you light: setup rules
Most cracker accidents are set-up failures, not bad luck. PESO's official Deepavali safety notice is specific about where and how to prepare the burst site. Choose open ground, away from parked vehicles, dry leaves, overhead wires and building windows. Aerial fireworks need a clear landing zone with nothing above them, trees and wires deflect a misfire straight back at the crowd. Never light fireworks inside the house, in a narrow lane, or on a public road; a courtyard or terrace with genuine open sky above it works, a balcony overhung by the next floor does not.
Wear thick cotton clothing rather than synthetic, and tie back anything loose before the first cracker goes up, synthetic fabric catches and melts differently to cotton under a stray spark. Keep a bucket of water within arm's reach for the whole session: PESO's own phrasing is that every major fire starts small, and a full bucket turns a spark into a non-event instead of a story.
Buy only from a licensed seller, and where the box carries the CSIR-NEERI green logo and QR code, scan it with the official "CSIR NEERI Green QR Code" app before you light anything, that confirms the product is genuinely certified rather than just labelled "eco" on the box. Our how green crackers work guide covers what that certification actually means.
Lighting technique that prevents burns
PESO's guidance on the lighting motion itself is precise, and it's the single habit that prevents the most hand and face burns. Use a long candle or a phooljhari (sparkler-style taper) to ignite the fuse, never a match held close to the cracker, and never a cigarette lighter cupped near your face. Keep your elbow joint straight rather than bent: a straight arm puts real distance between your hand and the ignition point, a bent elbow brings your face and fingers closer than you think. Light it at ground level, then walk away immediately, don't crouch to watch it catch.
Never hold a firework while it's lit, not even a sparkler close to the body for longer than needed, and never lean over a cracker that's already been lit, even to check if it's working. If it doesn't fire, treat it as a dud rather than approaching to investigate; the dud-handling rule is covered under first aid below.
Do's and don'ts while bursting
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Light one firework at a time, one person only; everyone else watches from a distance | Ignite a firework while holding it, or bend over it once it's lit |
| Keep it at ground level, ignite, then step back | Light fireworks inside any container or box |
| Burst crackers only in open ground or a cleared area | Use fireworks inside the house or on a public road |
| Check your local sound-cracker time window before you start | Light flying or aerial fireworks in heavy wind |
| Let each aerial item finish and cool before the next one goes up | Re-light a dud; wait 15–20 minutes per PESO, then soak it |
| Keep children and pets a clear distance back, supervised throughout | Throw fireworks, point them at people, or carry one in a pocket |
Organise a single community display where practical rather than many households lighting crackers in the same lane at once, PESO's guidance favours fewer simultaneous ignition points over many. Don't store or stage the next box near burning candles or diyas, that's a named cause of household fires in PESO's own notice.
Timing: when you can legally burst
PESO's stated general rule is no sound-emitting firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am. That's the baseline, and it exists to protect sleep, the elderly and anyone with a medical sensitivity to sudden noise. It is not the only rule that can apply to you: several states set narrower, court-ordered windows for specific festivals, sometimes as tight as two hours, so PESO's own guidance is to check the local rule for your city before assuming the national window is the whole picture. Our Diwali muhurat and cracker bursting timings guide and cracker ban and timing rules by state guide cover the state-specific windows in detail.
The noise limit and why it exists
Every legally sold cracker in India, green or conventional, has to sit under a national noise ceiling. The Supreme Court prohibits manufacture, sale or use of any firecracker generating a noise level above 125 dB(AI) or 145 dB(C) pk, measured 4 metres from the point of bursting. For a series of joined crackers, the permitted limit is reduced further, by 5 log₁₀(N) dB, where N is the number of crackers joined together, so a longer chain has a tighter per-unit ceiling, not a free pass because it's "one item." PESO is the agency that tests and certifies compliance before manufacture is permitted at all. For the full breakdown of what that figure means in practice, see firecracker decibel limits explained.
Where only green crackers are allowed
The noise and composition ceiling above applies everywhere, but a separate rule can narrow your choice of product entirely. The National Green Tribunal, in orders dated 9 November 2020 and 1 December 2020 (O.A. No. 249/2020), directed that only certified green crackers may be used in cities and towns where air quality is moderate or below. That NGT direction is a distinct order from the Supreme Court's 23 October 2018 judgement (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 728 of 2015), which is the ruling that permitted green crackers to be manufactured and sold in the first place, not the one restricting where conventional crackers can be burst. Don't credit either body with the other's order: the Supreme Court opened the door for green crackers to exist as a legal product; the NGT is the body that can close the door on conventional crackers in specific poor-air cities. Check your city's current air-quality status before buying, our green crackers category lists the certified range if that applies to you, and Supreme Court rules on crackers covers the judgement in full.
If something still goes wrong
Even a well-run setup can still misfire. Don't approach or tamper with a firework that hasn't gone off, PESO's instruction is to wait 15 to 20 minutes, then soak it in a bucket of water before it's handled again. For any burn, skin or eye, the exact treatment steps, sourced the same way, are covered fully in first aid for cracker burns, don't improvise a remedy in the moment. Once the evening is over, soak every used or leftover firework in a bucket of water before disposal, our how to store crackers safely guide covers storage and disposal between and after sessions.