Some Fireworks Updates

I heard quite a few people lamenting last week that they weren’t able to have their own fireworks displays due to local or state laws.

MOST states in the U.S. have regulated fireworks. Most consider anything that goes airborne and that explodes to be illegal.

Here are some recent follow-up reports from the events this past week. You will see that some of these even happened at "regulated and/or controlled" events. There are more coming in as we get more and more reports.

Riverside, Ohio – a man lost part of his leg when fireworks went off inside his parked vehicle blowing the windows out.

Bayville, New York – a 6 year old girl suffered second degree burns when fireworks landed in her lap. Investigators say it was not immediately clear who launched the fireworks but said the child was not at a public fireworks display.

Port Huron, Michigan – a 51 year old man was critically injured when he was struck in the face by a mortar type firework. Police said the man was placing the firework in a tube when it ignited.

New Madrid, Missouri – a volunteer firefighter was killed when a fireworks mortar struck him as he was assisting with loading the mortars at the community fireworks show on July 4th.

Charles City, Iowa – A Fourth of July fireworks shell misfired sending a fireball into a crowd of spectators injuring 37 people. An apparent misfire
involving 13 racks of fireworks tubes occurred during the finale of the city sponsored show.

SOURCE: eParade Yahoo Group. The group is made up of State and Metro Fire Marshals and is established to provide a clearinghouse for ideas, questions and a way to network among fire marshals about life safety issues.