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Personal fireworks mishaps...

SpokaneCY

SpokaneCY

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
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Spokane, WA
I LOVE fireworks. I LOVE blowing **** up and shooting things off. I LOVED bottle rocket fights and destroying my model airplanes with firecrackers.

2 stories...

I'm 10-ish and Robby - my neighborhood friend was maybe 8. 4th celebration in the hood back in WDM and we were KILLING it with sparklers. I think of myself as having leadership qualities, so I "suggested" to Robby he throw a sparkler into some bushes in front of another neighbor's house. By "bushes" I mean 100 year old junipers that are only green and moist on the VERY outside with the inside being tinder dry. The blaze was AMAZING and it was cool to see the fire trucks being just a 10 year old.

Robby - I am sincerely sorry my friend.

Now I'm 13-ish and at a best friends house and we're throwing firecrackers and having a grand old time. I throw one toward (I distinctly remember not AT) but my aim was NOT true (Elvis shout-out there) and as it neared him, he flinched when it hit his arm which popped it up to just outside his ear where it detonated (black cats but still). Perforation of ear drum ensued and I used the word "ensued" because it contains the word "sued". We WEREN'T but there was some talk between the families.

Johnny - I am sincerely sorry my friend.

Any other incidents???

That said - be safe and be responsible!!!!!
 
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snakes-and-sparklers.jpg
 
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The wife, granddaughter and I were exploring jeep trails out around Moab, Utah just after the 4th of July one year. We ran across an old abandoned mine and cabins and explored them. Someone had been letting off fireworks in the mine (it was large enough to drive a truck in to). I found some bottle rockets that hadn't been let off yet so I took them outside the mine and decided to let them off.

One of the rockets went straight in to a large mesquite tree/bush. Yep, the tree exploded into a huge ball of fire and thick black smoke. Wife and granddaughter ran screaming to the Jeep and got a gallon jug of water to throw on the fire. So I did, but by that time the fire had died down so the water got rid of most of the rest of the flames but not the smoke. We had to get the heck out of there before a forest ranger spotted the smoke from a fire tower or fire patrol plane (the area was pretty close to a National Forest)! We left in a rush and never heard anything about it.

The tree was on top of the mine and to the left outside of the picture. Fireworks from previous people can be seen in the fire pit.
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Did several summer family get togethers where the adults basically sat on a wagon up the hill and watched the cousins set off fireworks.

Several times the tube would fall over and we'd all scramble while they shot off in different directions.

Had one where it was basically just a ginormous bottle rocket that we stuck in the ground to light from, that went up REALLY high and the explosion even up there was deafening. We did two iirc and the second one just stayed stuck in the ground when it was lit, and exploded while stationary. Likely the loudest thing I've ever heard, and it was basically a white light that filled the pasture.

We all had ran when we realized it didn't take off, but were pretty quiet after it exploded, to check and make sure everyone was injury free. Then laughter ensued. Simple folk, simply entertained.
 
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Not a mishap, but a story nonetheless. Senior year of HS, a busy and I decided to light off some Roman Candles in the senior parking lot, during schools hours of course. A few minutes into the action, one of the female math teachers came out of the building to tell us to stop. The messed up part was when she pointed to the nice dress she was wearing and said "Do you know why I'm wearing this dress today? It's the one year anniversary of Columbine and if I get shot, I want to look nice". We hadn't even considered that at the time. Suspended for 3 days and nearly missed our senior prom.
 
SpokaneCY said:
I LOVE fireworks. I LOVE blowing **** up and shooting things off. I LOVED bottle rocket fights and destroying my model airplanes with firecrackers.

2 stories...

I'm 10-ish and Robby - my neighborhood friend was maybe 8. 4th celebration in the hood back in WDM and we were KILLING it with sparklers. I think of myself as having leadership qualities, so I "suggested" to Robby he throw a sparkler into some bushes in front of another neighbor's house. By "bushes" I mean 100 year old junipers that are only green and moist on the VERY outside with the inside being tinder dry. The blaze was AMAZING and it was cool to see the fire trucks being just a 10 year old.

Robby - I am sincerely sorry my friend.

Now I'm 13-ish and at a best friends house and we're throwing firecrackers and having a grand old time. I throw one toward (I distinctly remember not AT) but my aim was NOT true (Elvis shout-out there) and as it neared him, he flinched when it hit his arm which popped it up to just outside his ear where it detonated (black cats but still). Perforation of ear drum ensued and I used the word "ensued" because it contains the word "sued". We WEREN'T but there was some talk between the families.

Johnny - I am sincerely sorry my friend.

Any other incidents???

That said - be safe and be responsible!!!!!
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Jeez, if thats how you treat your friends what do you do to your enemies?
 
M80s into my buddys family pond was always fun
 
We used to have bottle rocket wars at an old rock quarry every year (a rock quarry we called Space Mountain in SW Iowa). We limited it to bottle rockets, firecrackers and roman candles (though one year someone brought one of those cones that sprays fire out the top, and that was used to clear a rock pile off really quick). I used the tubes that go in golf bags to create a double barrel launcher.

We had many a random injury, but the most notable is a buddy that had a flaming roman candle ball shot down the back of his shirt.
 
Nothing too crazy has happenned to me. On a few occasions an artillary shell has exploded in the launch tube. I have since purchased a cheap remote ignition system so I can light them from a distance.

Firework injuries are relatively rare and in most cases happen to idiots misusing them, but being able to light them from a distance eliminates all risk. Or at least allows for enough time to move out of the way if something goes wrong.

One thing I dont understand is why people think it's a good idea to give young children a metal stick that burns at 2,000 degrees. After all, A sparkler in the hands of a child is what caused the 1931 spencer fire resulting the ban of everything but the sparkler and snakes.
 
CoachHines3 said:
M80s into my buddys family pond was always fun
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My idiot friend threw one into the Maquoketa River around 1965 or so. My mother and her friend were out sunning on top of a boat house nearby. Man, was she PISSED off.

Those things were crazy. For you young peeps, they had over 50x the powder in them than anything you can buy now at consumer level. A Blackcat can have a max 50mg powder, those old boys were like 6000mg. Just stupid powerful. Banned back in 1975.
 
BoxsterCy said:
My idiot friend threw one into the Maquoketa River around 1965 or so. My mother and her friend were out sunning on top of a boat house nearby. Man, was she PISSED off.

Those things were crazy. For you young peeps, they had over 50x the powder in them than anything you can buy now at consumer level. A Blackcat can have a max 50mg powder, those old boys were like 6000mg. Just stupid powerful. Banned back in 1975.
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Cherry bombs were good too. My brother and I would light them and then launch them by hitting them with a tennis racket. I think that they are outlawed now too.
 
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Isualum13 said:
Nothing too crazy has happenned to me. On a few occasions an artillary shell has exploded in the launch tube. I have since purchased a cheap remote ignition system so I can light them from a distance.

Firework injuries are relatively rare and in most cases happen to idiots misusing them, but being able to light them from a distance eliminates all risk. Or at least allows for enough time to move out of the way if something goes wrong.

One thing I dont understand is why people think it's a good idea to give young children a metal stick that burns at 2,000 degrees. After all, A sparkler in the hands of a child is what caused the 1931 spencer fire resulting the ban of everything but the sparkler and snakes.
Click to expand...

I still remember walking through the lawn and finding those sharp pointy metal sticks that disappear until you hit them with a mower.
 
SpokaneCY said:
I still remember walking through the lawn and finding those sharp pointy metal sticks that disappear until you hit them with a mower.
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We always put a bucket of water about 5 feet away from the pack of new sparklers. You had to drop your burnt out sparkler in the water to get a new one. If you dropped it in the yard you were done.
 
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Think I'm going to up my game and get some tannerite this year.
 
aauummm said:
The wife, granddaughter and I were exploring jeep trails out around Moab, Utah just after the 4th of July one year. We ran across an old abandoned mine and cabins and explored them. Someone had been letting off fireworks in the mine (it was large enough to drive a truck in to). I found some bottle rockets that hadn't been let off yet so I took them outside the mine and decided to let them off.

One of the rockets went straight in to a large mesquite tree/bush. Yep, the tree exploded into a huge ball of fire and thick black smoke. Wife and granddaughter ran screaming to the Jeep and got a gallon jug of water to throw on the fire. So I did, but by that time the fire had died down so the water got rid of most of the rest of the flames but not the smoke. We had to get the heck out of there before a forest ranger spotted the smoke from a fire tower or fire patrol plane (the area was pretty close to a National Forest)! We left in a rush and never heard anything about it.

The tree was on top of the mine and to the left outside of the picture. Fireworks from previous people can be seen in the fire pit.
View attachment 72501
Click to expand...

Did you see a Delorean in that there cave??

I’m fairly safe with fireworks. I’ve seen what those mortars can do to a hand. NOT PRETTY. I did grow up having Roman candle fights, and participated in a few between moving vehicles. Not smart, and when when of those balls goes into the window of a moving car, it can get hairy real fast, but we somehow escaped any real trouble.

My youngest daughter, on the other hand, is somewhat afraid of sparklers to this day. We were at a lake around the 4th when she was about 3-4 years old (she’s 12 now) and all we had were the very basic sparklers around. The kinds that were always end caps at Hy-Vee. I thought...”damn things are harmless” and handed her one. She had a great time with it...you know...making circles, dancing around. She came back when it was dying out and wanted to do another one so bad, she went to give me the one she had, and the poor thing grabbed the lit end with her other hand. That **** is HOT! She burned the crap out of the palm of her hand. She has grown into a very tough young woman, but to this day, very leery of sparklers.
 
Oh man, where to even begin with this thread?! So many to choose from...:eek:

aauummm said:
Cherry bombs were good too. My brother and I would light them and then launch them vertically with a tennis racket. I think that they are outlawed now too.
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Guess I'll start here. Had to be about 10 or 11 years old, remember "finding" some rogue ammo. Well, were we sure surprised as we closely gathered around a harmless little smoke grenade ball (or so we thought) that turned out to be a cherry bomb!
 
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