Posted on 07/04/2024 2:25:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Salinas man is recovering in a Bay Area hospital after he lost a hand from an illegal firework.
It was Monday night when firefighters responded to the intersection of Boronda and Independence in north Salinas on reports of a man screaming and trying to flag down drivers.
“When our fire department, paramedics and police arrived at the scene, they did encounter the male with the extensive injuries to his hand and his face, obviously suffering from a severe explosive injury,” said Salinas fire Chief Sam Klemek.
Firefighters say the man, believed to be homeless, blew off his right hand with an illegal firework. He also had cuts on his face and stomach from shrapnel and was bleeding from both ears.
The man was in shock and could only tell firefighters, "bad fireworks." Firefighters say the incident is a tragic reminder of the dangers of using illegal fireworks.
“This person will forever bear the scars of his choice to engage in using illegal fireworks. It's sad, but it also should be a reminder to everybody of the consequences of this kind of activity which you subject yourself to. He'll live with this for the rest of his life,” Klemek said.
An investigation is now underway involving Salinas police and fire to try and determine where the man obtained the illegal fireworks.
“We'll continue to try to get more information from the victim as he's able to recall or willing to share. He undoubtedly is going to have a long road to recovery, but we'll be persistent in trying to get the information we're looking for,” Klemek said.
Thursday night, law enforcement and firefighters will be on high alert, cracking down on those using illegal fireworks or Safe and Sane fireworks where they’re prohibited.
“There will be dozens of eyes on the streets, patrolling, recording, documenting use of illegal fireworks. So when those tickets go out, there will be with the evidence to back it up,” Klemek said.
Most come from Mexico, it’s way cheaper...
I hope it was not is favorite self pleasuring hand
Our electric poles in South Florida were made of wood and infused with a tar-like substance. One Fourth of July, after making the 10 hour run, each way, to South of the Border, our block was ready for a loud celebration.
One of the revelers thought it a good idea to duck tape a “Trash Can” firework to an electrical pole and set it off. This particular item was said to have the equivalent bang of TWO M-80s! What could go wrong?
We were smart enough to have long sticks to help light things from at least three feet away.
So the Trash Can was taped on, a teenager lit it, and we ran.
It was a fast fuse. Some of us didn’t get to see the actual sight of about 1/3 of the circumference of the wooden pole turned to splinters.
After, it was obvious that even a moderate wind was going to blow down the weakened pole. One of the parents called FPL and a crew replaced it the next day.
Yeah, something like that could blow off your entire hand.
My dad lived in Liverpool,,,,,,Texas.
People fall off horses too.
So many “Loyalists” wanting to outlaw everything a free society offers.
So easy to make your own and most fuses and such can be ordered off the internet along with a trip to your local gun store for your powder for reloading endeavors. Those spent CO2 cartridges for you airsoft guns come in real handy too. Make sure you get the right fuses though. They got some fast stuff that burns about 1 second per foot, don’t want to use that stuff. Just in case your looking for next year. https://cannonfuse.com/
Gotta love the Karen fire dept....blaming this on so called illegal fireworks. It was probably a 1.4G consumer firework, federally legal, except Kalifornia does not allow consumer aerial fireworks. The focus here should instead be....this is what happens when you blow off fireworks in your hand.
Gotta love the Karen fire dept....blaming this on so called illegal fireworks. It was probably a 1.4G consumer firework, federally legal, except Kalifornia does not allow consumer aerial fireworks. The focus here should instead be....this is what happens when you blow off fireworks in your hand.
“...reports of a man screaming and trying to flag down drivers.”
Screaming and waving a bloody stump probably isn’t the best way to go about that.
Where we are at surrounded by Indian reservations the ordinance has gotten significantly more powerful in the past few years. It no longer sounds like small arms fire... it sounds like large artillery pieces. If I didn’t know better I would be worried that WWIII has broken out.
Imagine listening to the sounds that Francis Scott Key was hearing.
many years ago when i worked in a hospital emergency room, a 17-20 yr old young man was brought by ambulance..
we uncovered his hand.. blew off the skin and muscle trying to make a homemade firecracker. the upshot was hsi father was my college chemestry instructor...
so no i dont mess around with any of that stuff
I am not going to give the drunk idiots setting off huge explosive charges at 2:00 AM in the morning that much credit. They are doing nothing but disturbing everyone around them including terrified pets and denigrating a sacred Holiday. It is disgusting and makes a mockery of our country's history. This is nothing like the respectful family get-togethers we had 50 years ago.
Most of the activity in our area seems to be from military aged men who are recent illegal arrivals being belligerent and making asses out of themselves. It is irritating that the police here no longer do anything to enforce the law when it comes to this.
Wherein our heroes explode various fireworks near ballistic gel dummies and show what would happen to real dummies who misuse fireworks.
Watched yesterday, great stuff.
Here in south Snohomish Co. The arty got underway about 930pm when it starts getting dark and lasted until midnight. Full on barrage of finest tribal fireworks!
It makes one wish for the return of our sacred traditional South King County Culture as personified by this "folk song" singing duo...
cool, first i heard of that!
I remember as a boy seeing a teen’s arm with no hand; I was told that he lost his hand due to a fireworks/pipebomb accident. I never forgot how that looked.
I still can never imaging how someone can ride a motorcycle, I’m doing 75 mph and they are passing me and weaving in and out of traffic on the highway. Motorcycles are just so dangerous; sure, sometimes it’s the other person’s fault, but we all know that accidents happen.
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