Firework injury stories?

[kmcogar]

Personally I have only known of one firework injury story. I feel like it?s the most common one. We were probably 16 at the time and a buddy of mine thought it would be cool to light the mortar tube while holding it. The firework exploded inside and messed up his hand. He?s actually completely fine now. It only caused blacked spotting in his hand and it eventually went away. Other than that, I have never had a bad experience. (Knock on wood).

Anyhow, I got 5 cases of 60gram canisters this year and my mother in law refusing to light them off because she says they are too dangerous. They talk about a story where someone put it in upside down and it blew up and it was scary. Now...no one was injured. It was lit, people got their distance and all was fine. Now this incident was probably...over 12 years ago. Additionally she says that if one explodes, the entire rack will blow up causing a HUGE explosion that would injure everyone at the party. ALSO, that humidity will mess them up and they will be more likely to get stuck in the tube and blow up. But I hear about it every year. Nonetheless, last 4th and for a gender reveal this year, I lit off some canisters. But NOW after I bought 5 cases she says they are not allowed at their 4th of July firework display.

I was wondering if anyone had any horror stories while using 60gram canisters because the only thing I find online is people getting injured while holding the mortar tube like a dumb🐴.

[Kooooou]

I've only witnessed 3 injuries in my 30+ years of consumer and some pro fireworks.

One injury was my own when I lit a preloaded 1/2" consumer tube. It exploded in the tube and that was strong enough to send a base plate fragment into my clavicle causing some bleeding an a bruise. I was only standing about 15' away. A few inches higher and I could have had a very bad eye injury. Lesson learned was wear goggles and respect even the smallest fireworks.

The other 2 injuries I witnessed were reloadable mortar hang fire incidents where a shell did not lift and the person went to relight it. One person took a hit in the hand and the other in the face at separate events. Bruising was extremely bad in both cases and it got bloody too but no one was severely injured. Lesson learned here was keep your body parts completely clear of any tube openings (basically treat it like a loaded gun) and don't relight failed shells. For failures like these, because they do happen to me when visco is used, I keep people away from the live tube and after several minutes I quickly dump the failed consumer grade shell into a bucket of water. Admittedly, when it's happened to a rare or expensive shell, I moved the loaded tube to a safer location where it can still fire upwards away from people, and then I re-fuse the shell a few hours later.

[Icooclast]

just minor burns here. (mostly my thumb) but i will say this: my friend had the bad luck to have 2 mishaps: 1; effect came outside the side of the cake and caught his shirt on fire a little, but was able to pat it out by hand. he was fine, but obviously the shirt wasn't.

same friend a few years later: a mortar fuse was too short, so his plan was to light it and drop it into the tube, it blew up almost instantly and he lost the first joint and above of his middle finger, the second knuckle is now held together with a pin and they had to pick chucks of bone out of his stomach and stitch some of those closed. i was not there that night, or else i would have tried my best to talk him out it. supposedly they got this shell from someone else. so, even if you know the person... you never know

[upNdown]

Personally I have only known of one firework injury story. I feel like it?s the most common one. We were probably 16 at the time and a buddy of mine thought it would be cool to light the mortar tube while holding it. The firework exploded inside and messed up his hand. He?s actually completely fine now. It only caused blacked spotting in his hand and it eventually went away. Other than that, I have never had a bad experience. (Knock on wood).



Anyhow, I got 5 cases of 60gram canisters this year and my mother in law refusing to light them off because she says they are too dangerous. They talk about a story where someone put it in upside down and it blew up and it was scary. Now...no one was injured. It was lit, people got their distance and all was fine. Now this incident was probably...over 12 years ago. Additionally she says that if one explodes, the entire rack will blow up causing a HUGE explosion that would injure everyone at the party. ALSO, that humidity will mess them up and they will be more likely to get stuck in the tube and blow up.

You know those are both crap, right?

The worst injuries I’ve seen have been burns from sparklers. (Suffice it to say, I’ve been careful and lucky with the bigger stuff) And I’ve been semi-mocked on this site for saying I’m afraid of sparklers. But I don’t like it when a chunk of 1800 degree burning sparkler jumps off and lands on my hand or arm - call me crazy.

[PyroFL]

Personally I only know of one guy ... Bobby ... he has the worse luck

https://youtu.be/BYc26WC4oYg

[BMoore]

You know those are both crap, right?

The worst injuries I’ve seen have been burns from sparklers. (Suffice it to say, I’ve been careful and lucky with the bigger stuff) And I’ve been semi-mocked on this site for saying I’m afraid of sparklers. But I don’t like it when a chunk of 1800 degree burning sparkler jumps off and lands on my hand or arm - call me crazy.

This 100%! I’ve hand fired some big shells and nothing makes me as nervous as a sparkler. I won’t even let my kids have them. I’ve seen a lot more injuries from sparklers, followed novelties and safe and sane cheap crap than any higher end products.

[bingsbaits]

We lost a friend here in NW Penna a few years back. Their first mistake was the alchohol. He was drunk as a skunk. Second mistake was they were "playing" with overloaded and very large M-80s. He thought it would be cool to light it while in his mouth before throwing it. It fast fused on him and blew off half of his face. I was not there but saw the pics. Very disturbing to see that. And very sad to lose your life over a stupid stupid act..

[Arles]

I've done a lot of research on firework accidents and agree that the majority of cannister accidents are people holding the mortars. I've also read about some hangfires going off unexpectantly when the mortar fails to fire as expected and the person goes in to check on it.

Just something to keep in mind... I had a 'near-miss' the very first time I set off shells. I had two individual mortars next to each other set up on a board sitting on grass and did not brace the tubes with anything heavy. My plan was to light two off at the same time. I lit the first but fumbled with 2nd one and never got it lit and backed off to wait for the first one to fire. The first one fired and tipped over and knocked over the 2nd tube I had planned to light... if I had gotten that 2nd one lit, it would have fired on its side pointing towards people. Definitely a beginner mistake. Assume the unexpected will eventually happen, either by something you missed, or failure of the product to work as intended, and that's why distance is your best friend.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

A guy at PGI about 3 years ago went to the emergency room with a chuck of his face and arm missing after the shell he made disintegrated on launch. The salute "bottom shot" he had in the shell plopped out onto the ground and when it exploded on the gravel lot, it launched some gravel like a shotgun blast and he bore the brunt of it. He turned out okay from what I'm told.

[displayfireworks1]

I believe I told the story a few times over the year. I was injured at a July 4th professional display in my hometown when I around 10 years old while sitting in the audience with my mother. It was my eye , I had to wear a patch for around a week. I joked the fireworks powder entered my blood through my eye back then and stayed in my bloodstream.

[Birdman]

As a toddler my sister was burned by a roman candle that tipped over (it was placed in bottle). Seen someone step barefoot on a still hot spent sparkler. I wish I had a dollar for every time I burnt my finger lighting a fuse with a lighter. Also lit a cake that was placed upside once. No one was hurt though. Other than that I've had and seen firecrackers go off in hands but no injury other than some temporary soreness and/or minor blistering. I had a couple shells fire in the tube but no damage was done to the tube or rack. Makes me wonder if I was lucky or if it's because I was firing "legit" consumer shells.

I agree the safe and sane stuff gives a false sense of security where the bigger cakes and shells typically get more respect. I also find when people have a bunch of small stuff they will get bored and that's when people start doing stupid things with them. Can't recall any serious injuries when I've seen this happen but the potential was there.