The Spectacle Blog
The Internet was abuzz Monday with the news that a Long Island, N.Y., resident lost his arm in a Fourth of July fireworks mishap:
Grim-faced relatives yesterday told a critically injured Long Island dad that doctors wouldn’t be able to reattach his left arm — which he had blown off with illegal fireworks… .
Smith had been trying to shoot one of the explosives from a makeshift launcher in front of his Fairview Avenue home in Islip Terrace shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday when it fired into his shoulder, authorities said… .
To anyone familiar with fireworks, the key phrase there is “makeshift launcher.” Another story clarifies the situation slightly:
A man blew his left arm off after illegally using fireworks Saturday evening in Islip Terrace, Suffolk County police said. Eric Smith, 36, was shooting mortars out of a three-foot-long metal tube …
This story caught my attention because, as the world’s greatest pyro-dad, I’ve shot thousands of consumer fireworks mortar shells, which are no more than 1.75 inches in diameter and certainly not powerful enough to blow off anyone’s arm. The launch tubes are usually 12 inches but at most 15 inches long, and are made of either fiberglass, heavy-duty cardboard or, ideally, high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
So this detail about a man being critically injured while firing a shell from a “three-foot-long metal tube” aroused my suspicion, and I was not alone. At the PyroUniverse forum — a favorite site for fireworks buffs, both amateur and professional — the “shocking lack of . . . information” in press accounts was noted, and one of the contributors reported:
I went to school with this guy, he graduated a year ahead of me, it was a 4” mortar.
Which is to say that it was a professional-grade shell, classified as a “1.3G” explosive, the possession of which by a non-licensed person is a federal crime. Because New York prohibits consumer fireworks (classified as “1.4G”) press descriptions of Smith as using “illegal” fireworks might have left readers with a mistaken impression.
The failure of reporters to make such distinctions are typical of how the press routinely misrepresents fireworks safety issues. While complete data on fireworks-related injuries are unavailable, there is evidence that banning consumer fireworks actually increases risk. Some injuries occur when individuals (usually in states that prohibit consumer fireworks) attempt to rig up their own homemade devices, as happened Sunday near Seattle:
A 64-year-old SeaTac man was sent to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries on Sunday after being hurt by exploding homemade fireworks, according to the King County Sheriff’s office.
A 52-year-old man who lived in the same house as the victim had built a homemade “aerial device” by tying together a bundle of sparklers. The man put the device inside a concrete cinder block to brace it, sheriff’s deputies said.
But the homemade rocket “exploded in place, sending pieces of the concrete block in all directions,” the sheriff’s office said. The victim was standing about 15 feet to 20 feet away and was hit in the head by a chunk of the concrete block. His injury was life-threatening, according the sheriff’s department.
Another risk that may result from banning consumer fireworks, as illustrated by the Long Island incident, is that people may resort to obtaining illegal access to professional fireworks on the black market. (Friends tell me that this especially seems to be a problem in New York, for some reason. This may be related to corruption in New York’s heavily unionized transportation sector: “It fell off the truck.”)
Used as intended and with common-sense precautions, consumer fireworks are in fact safer than your backyard barbecue, as I reported four years ago for Reason magazine:
In recent years, sales of consumer fireworks have skyrocketed, even as injury rates have fizzled.
According to federal data compiled by the American Pyrotechnics Association (APA), while U.S. fireworks sales increased roughly eight-fold from 1976 to 2004—from 29 million pounds to over 236 million pounds per year—estimates of annual fireworks-related injuries decreased from 11,100 in 1976 to 9,600 in 2004.
Fireworks injuries are relatively rare, accounting for an estimated 0.01 percent of annual U.S. injuries, according to an APA analysis which found that injuries from cooking ranges are four times as common as fireworks injuries… .
The title of that article is the best possible safety advice, found on the label of every consumer fireworks item sold in the United States: “Light Fuse, Get Away.”
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More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
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solo| 7.6.10 @ 8:24AM
Good article, Robert.
I went to the PyroUniverse web site and read the entire thread on the subject.
I learned a great deal and a plethora of new terms. One of the things I learned was: I shouldn't be screwing around with Pro-Grade fireworks!
I had no idea that the fuses on these 1.3G shells were intended to be so quick. I guess it makes sense when you think about it-given that professional fireworks shows are often timed to music.
I had an opportunity to buy some 3-inch and 4-inch shells from a "trunk salesman" a few weeks back. I'm glad I opted for the little 1.75-inch "consumer grade" shells instead.
I did, however, purchase 6 of what he called "M-300" fire-crackers. They were huge; about 3 inches long and about 1- 1/4 inch in diameter. I thought it would be "cool" to set them off for what I thought would be a loud but otherwise harmless "BANG". Wrong!
I placed one on a concrete Landscape block on my patio, lit the fuse and backed away about 20 feet. It should have been 60 feet, I guess.
The flash was about 3 feet in diameter and the shock wave practically knocked me off balance. I was sure that I had blown the windows out of my (and my neighbor's) house. Every car alarm in the neighborhood went off!
The concrete paver block was shattered but still in place except for a large chunk where the "firecracker" was sitting and a rather large hole in my siding 10 feet from the blast.
Now...usually...firecrackers leave behind some paper residue or something. Not this thing. It literally EVAPORATED!! I had set it down to light it (I had that much sense), but, had it gone off in my hand, it probably would have killed me.
The moral is: be careful what you buy out of some guy's car trunk. These things are dangerous and could get you (or a loved one) killed in a heartbeat. Leave it to the Pros or be satisfied with the little consumer-grade firecrackers.
It's just not worth the risk.
Oh...and the other 5 "M-300's" that I purchased.....? I have them soaking in water as I type this.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.6.10 @ 8:51AM
AH...fireworks lost their fun when they "retired" the good ole' cherry bomb.
A kid could have all sorts of fun with it...especially with it's water-proof fuse. Heh.
ggoblue| 7.6.10 @ 9:01AM
i often wonder how much damage we did to in ground pools with cherry bombs and m-80's....we just loved the plume it sent up...
Bruce | 7.6.10 @ 9:29AM
Fireworks have been made illegal precisely because of idiots like the moron in Islip Terrace. There is always the guy in a neighborhood who needs to outdo everyone else by buying the biggest boomers he can get and putting on a show for the neighborhood. They tend, imo, to be the same ones who allow their young kids to play with fireworks without supervision - though I'm not at all sure supervision by idiots like that guy would help.
The contention that fireworks on LI - where I have lived all my 64 years - come as a result of unionized truckers is absurd. Come to LI some time and look at the countless vehicles with license tags from Florida and other states that sell fireworks freely and you'll have a clue of their origin.
JimH| 7.6.10 @ 10:17AM
I'm not in favor of banning them, but you do have to be careful, even with normal consumer fireworks. Years ago when I was a teenager, I was shooting a Roman Candle while holding it in my hand. I guess this one had some sort of defect and a number of balls shot out of the bottom of the tube scorching my arm. I was lucky with some minor burns and a scare.
saltydogger| 7.6.10 @ 11:06AM
I'm against fireworks.
Not a couple of sparklers in the backyard, or the few rockets launched from a cleared, safe place, by an old hand who has at least one finger missing to warn and impress the audiences,
I resent the fact that the average big city display (for a win by the home team = $50K; a 4th display=$1M; New Years announcement = $2M and fixing the potholes
Peter B. Nelson| 7.6.10 @ 1:10PM
Here is an argument against consumer fireworks: Noise pollution. By design. When the "young men" of your neighborhood awaken and terrify your toddlers at 1AM, you develop a more nuanced understanding of these things.
Charles | 7.6.10 @ 2:03PM
How do you blow apart a concrete block with a bunch of sparklers? Some further investigative reporting is needed.
matthew s harrison| 7.6.10 @ 2:33PM
My views on fireworks are simple. Let everyone who wants to play with the commercial grade H.E.s do it-make them go to a central location, so as to not blow up families and burn down houses. Don't give them any direction. Let them use all the makeshift launch-tubes and other gerry-rigged items they want to. At the end of each night they are allowed to do it, bring out the fire department to hose off all the blood, so the idiots that didn't get blown up the night before aren't deterred from the next night of self-destructive behavior-and we get rid of a lot of people who shouldn't be voting in one fell-swoop!
CJohnson| 7.6.10 @ 5:33PM
You can't fix stupid!
Alaska Dept of Public Safety, Trooper Report July 6, 2010:
"Village Public Safety Officers along with Kake Volunteer Fire Department responded to a structure fire located on Front Street in Kake. The fire was caused by a 4 year old boy playing with fireworks in the living room which subsequently caught the couch on fire and quickly spread throughout the home. The three occupants in the house at the time were able to make it out safely. "