ABSTRACT Particulate matter (PM) is one of the most important air pollutants that can hurt human health. Fireworks are rare but important sources of ambient PM and can therefore lead to short‐term exposure to high concentrations of PM with potentially toxic components. For the first time in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, the characteristics of fireworks PM during 6 celebrations (New Year 2015, 2017, and 2018 and 3 football events in May 2017) were investigated and compared with the average concentrations during the surrounding period. The elemental composition of the PM samples was determined using the X‐ray fluorescence technique, where the concentrations of 15 elements from S to Pb were determined. Although the total PM concentrations were in the range of values previously measured at the same locations, the concentrations of several elements were substantially larger during the fireworks. A significant increase in concentrations was observed for K, Ti, Cr, Cu, Sr, and Ba, with the largest increase in concentration for Sr and Ba. The most noticeable increase in concentrations compared to the seasonal average was observed during the 2018 New Year's sampling when the average 8‐h concentrations were elevated as follows: 11 times for K, 14 times for Ti, 5 times for Cr, 9 times for Cu, 691 times for Sr, and 243 times for Ba. The increase in concentrations at other events where 24‐h samples were taken was present but not as pronounced and was lowest at football celebration events.