Little Maisie Roe got an exploding firework caught in her scarf. The result was horrifying.

Stephanie Roe and her husband Jake are safety-conscious parents. When they bought a “harmless” box of fireworks from the supermarket to let off in their garden for the UK’s Bonfire Night, the recommendation was for a buffer zone of five metres. So they made sure their three children stood 10 metres away. It wasn’t enough.

“Turns out they aren’t always so harmless,” Roe posted on her Facebook page on Sunday.

“Sometimes instead of going ‘up’ they shoot horizontally across a field and embed in your four-year-old’s scarf before they go bang.”

Four-year-old Maisie sustained “full-thickness burns” to her head and shoulder and is facing skin graft surgery. The little girl is currently in hospital in Bristol.

“Probably the most heartbreaking of all are the superficial burns to her little hand where she’s tried in vain to pull the firework off her before it exploded,” Roe adds.

But doctors say her injuries could have been worse.

“It’s hard to believe now but Maisie was lucky,” Roe explains. “A few inches different and she could have been blinded or had her airway compromised.”

Maisie has had a tough few days in hospital. At one point, Roe writes, “she screamed, and she screamed”.

“There is nothing worse as a parent than to see your child writhing in pain and not being able to do anything to help them.”

Roe’s Facebook post about the accident has been shared more than 14,000 times. She is asking people to sign a petition to ban the sale of fireworks to the public in the UK.

Most Australian states banned the sale of fireworks to the public in the 1980s. However, in the Northern Territory, people are allowed to buy fireworks on July 1 to set off in celebration of Territory Day. More than 300 firework-related injuries have been reported in the NT since 1998. A large percentage of those injured were bystanders.

Fireworks. Best left to the experts? Photo via iStock. 

Late last year, independent senator David Leyonhjelm called for the sale of fireworks to be allowed in Australia all year round, saying he'd received frequent submissions about it. The term "nanny state" was tossed around.

But when things are banned, it's usually for a good reason. If a ban saves just a few kids every year from being burnt like Maisie, then it's worth keeping.

As Roe writes, "If this photo puts anyone off buying fireworks from a supermarket/newsagent and setting them off in their garden next year, then good. Go to an organised display. It is NEVER worth the risk."