Cape Girardeau residents were more careful this year when they celebrated Independence Day -- area hospitals reported only a few minor burns from fireworks.

The numbers go up and down from year to year. Jay Wolz, a spokesman for St. Francis Medical Center, said not one fireworks injury case showed up in St. Francis' emergency room this year, but other years are extremely busy.

A nurse told Wolz she treated a couple of minor burns in her neighborhood that didn't require hospitalization.

Some six patients burned by fireworks showed up in the Southeast Missouri Hospital emergency room Tuesday, primarily burned by bottle rockets. Pat Pennington, emergency room nurse manager, said every year health professionals encourage parents to supervise their children when the children light fireworks.

Some states, noting the number of injuries springing from pyrotechnics, have completely banned them. Illinois residents, for instance, can't buy or use fireworks in their home state. Many throw caution to the wind and flock to neighboring Missouri to purchase fireworks.

Public safety officials in Cape Girardeau have mixed feelings about fireworks ordinances. Individual cities in Missouri -- including Perryville and Sikeston -- have chosen to ban them altogether.

In Cape Girardeau, ordinances simply regulate when they can be purchased and when and where they can be fired off.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. said he has observed a nationwide trend to ban fireworks even though they are a traditional way to celebrate the United States' independence.

"I'd be reluctant to ask for a ban," he said. "I got an anonymous letter today saying I should support a ban, but that's not my job. My job is to enforce the laws."

For the next couple days, Boyd's officers will respond to calls about people who are ignoring the city's existing ordinance, which says the fireworks must end when July 4 ends. People usually keep going until today or Friday.

The chief said he might support a ban on bottle rockets and other projectiles if there was an increase in property damage because of them.

Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway agreed that bottle rockets present a problem. He mentioned a magazine article that stated an estimated 10,000 people are injured by fireworks each year in the United States and theorized that bottle rockets play a large role in those injuries.

"I doubt if a fireworks ordinance would pass, but there are some types of fireworks, in my opinion, we need to control," Ridgeway said.

There are a few fires set by improper fireworks use each year in Cape Girardeau, but the chief said their weren't any major problems this year.