Report Tallies July 4th Fireworks Toll: Lost Property, Maimed Bodies and Deaths

Five fingers, a leg, a hand, and five human lives were lost. Trailers and houses were destroyed, and at least a couple of pets died.

More than three weeks after the Fourth of July, the full extent of the damage wrought by fireworks on the nation’s birthday is becoming clear.

Patch has obtained a preliminary report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that listed 30 incidents of property damage, injury and even death attributed to fireworks.

And that’s just a small sample.

Last year, the CPSC estimated 10,500 firework-related injuries reported by hospitals, with an estimated 2,705 coming on the Fourth of July.

A safety commission spokeswoman said that its full fireworks safety report for 2015 likely won’t be completed until June or early July of next year.

But while 2015 saw several high-profile cases of fireworks-related injuries—NFL star Jason Pierre-Paul having a finger amputated, another player retiring after losing two fingers—this report shines a light on some of the misfortunes of the less famous that didn’t make national news.

“A lot of them happen in backyard settings, regular barbecue-style celebrations of the Fourth, in front of family members,” Nikki Fleming, a CPSC spokesperson, said. “It, unfortunately, can happen to you or one of your loved ones just because of the capacity of the device and the speed in which they can go off.”

Of the five confirmed deaths, all appear to have been preventable:

• One man in Walled Lake, Michigan, for instance, “died after jokingly placing a powerful firecracker to his head, believing that it wasn’t lit.”
• One in Calais, Maine, was “drinking at the time of the incident” and “placed (a) fireworks mortar on his head then ignited the fireworks.”
• In Indiana, a man went to check on a firework shell that hadn’t exploded when it hit him in the face.
• In a separate Indiana incident, a man was drinking by himself and setting off fireworks from a homemade device in his backyard when a neighbor heard a loud blast. He died of blunt force trauma to the head.
• In Billings, Montana, “investigators found that a mortar type firework was lit at the residence before striking and killing the man.” The Missoulian said he was launching them from his hip.

In another incident in Maiden Place, Kentucky, two people were setting off illegal fireworks when a female suffered burns and inhalation damage. The report said she was “in grave condition and is not expected to survive,” though it is unclear whether she did.

Among reports that didn’t involve death are those that range from reckless to just plain absurd.

A 52-year-old man in Leonia, New Jersey “blew off a large piece of his left leg below the knee when he set off a tennis ball sized firework.”

A 24-year-old man in Dania Beach, Florida blew off “most of his left hand above the wrist” trying to light a firework.

The Pierre-Paul incident isn’t explicitly listed, but there is an entry with no city, state or age data listed that describes a man who “had his right index finger amputated a result [sic] of fireworks accident” and also suffered burns to his palm and three other fingers.

That’s all consistent with what ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported about the New York Giants’ pro-bowler.

There is also a report from Charlotte, North Carolina, of a man who “lost 2 fingers in a firework accident” when “the firework did not pop out of the canister when they exploded, which is what Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback C.J. Wilson’s father told WBTV in Charlotte happened to his son on the Fourth.

Wilson announced his voluntary retirement from the NFL on Friday following the incident.

“One of the things that consumers may not realize is that most of the injuries involve what consumers may deem the smaller style fireworks, which may be things like sparklers, firecrackers, those types of devices,” Fleming said. “Consumers may, unfortunately, make that assumption that they’re a safer device.”

One home in Willamina, Oregon, was destroyed when embers fell into dry barkdust and smoldered during the night. When the temperature rose, “the embers burst into flame” and firefighters “were unable to save the house.”

Humans weren’t the only casualties of the celebrations either.

In Vancouver, Washington, two cats were killed when two mobile homes and a shed were destroyed by a fire that one of the owners says was started by fireworks.

Other notable incidents from the report:

• Saugus, Massachusetts: “A (23-year-old male) lost part of his left thumb & his entire index finger in an explosion caused from lighting off fireworks at his home. He was handling class C & commercial-grade fireworks in his backyard when they blew up.”
• St. Clair Shores, Michigan: “(17-year-old female’s) house window was damaged when a burned out mortar crashed through the front window of the house.”
• Fallston, Maryland: “A (15-year-old female) was seriously burned when illegal firework launched improperly & went across the ground, landing in her lap while she was sitting 25 feet away cross legged in her driveway. She received 2nd degree burns to 9% of her legs and fingers. She was taken to the hospital.
• Hollister, California: “A lit mortar fell over & shot projectiles into a crowd, hitting & sending at least 5 people to a hospital at a (sic) outdoor block party. Child was flown to a hospital with severe injuries, several children suffered moderate to severe burns & one person had a possible broken leg.”

See the full raw report below (the CPSC could not yet confirm until the full inquiry is done, but it appears that entries 5, 26 and 27 refer to the same incident, along with 11 and 6; and 12 and 24):