What's more outdoorsy then lighting up some fireworks for the Fourth?
Getting hurt lighting up fireworks for the Fourth! Yes, the cynical bastard in me couldn't resist
opening this week's blog with a recap of tragically avoidable firework accidents from this past holiday weekend.
- A man on Long Island blew his arm off lighting illegal fireworks from his family home. His arm could not be reattached. The former high school football player is in stable condition thanks to heroic efforts to stem the bleeding until emergency personnel arrived.
- A man in Minnesota lit a mortar shell he was holding in his hand, and it blew up in his face, causing severe burns and cuts to his face and eyes.
- A man in SeaTac, Washington built a homemade firework out of sparklers and cinder blocks. According to investigators, he tied together a bundle of sparklers and put them in a tube, then placed the tube in a concrete cinder block. Imagine his surprise when it exploded, sending concrete shrapnel into his face and the face of his friend. The friend was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
- And finally, in beautiful Nashville, TN, emergency room doctors at area hospitals had treated more than 50 people for fireworks related injuries over the holiday weekend. 12 remained at the hospital Monday. Also in Nashville, some crazy kids reportedly destroyed two homes in two separate places. I know where I'm not going next year.
