# Our 4th Of July Close Call



## thefulminator

I haven't told this story for a few years and I think it's the right time to dust it off. I know it's off topic, but I think that the story is important enough that I am trying to get as many as possible to see it.

In 2003, when my first son Danny was four years old, we went to some friend's house to set off fireworks on the 4th of July. There were about a dozen people in our group consisting of adults and five kids all under five years of age. After dinner, we were hanging out on the driveway and setting off our fireworks in the street in front of the house. We were being careful, setting them off away from the kids and tossing the spent items into a bucket of water to be sure they were completely out. The garden hose was also at the ready just in case something unexpected occurred.

I was sitting in a lawn chair in the driveway, with Danny on my lap. At that point in his life he really hated loud noises and was agitated about being around the fireworks because of the sounds they made. Noticing that Danny didn't like the noise, one of our friends found some noise suppression earmuffs used for shooting and asked Danny if he would like to try them, which he did. This made him much more comfortable and he got off my lap and sat in a chair of his own next to me. About that time the neighbors a couple houses down and on the other side of the street came out and started firing off their own fireworks. Everything seemed to be going as planned and the kids were enjoying the show.

Just after Danny got the earmuffs, the neighbors set off a cube shaped package that started shooting balls like a Roman candle. After the first few balls flew into the air, the cube fell onto its side. Nobody had done anything to cause this, it just did it on it's own. Of course the flaming Roman candle balls were heading in our direction.

As I started to get up to move out of the way I heard Danny start to scream. One of the balls had gone straight up the left leg of his shorts. Luckily, the shorts were made of nylon. The ball melted the material and it fell to the ground just before it exploded. He had pretty serious burns on the inside of his thigh and finally got out of the emergency room around 1:00 am. We had to keep his leg wrapped in bandages and silver sulfadyne for a couple months.

Believe it or not we ended up lucky that it wasn't more serious than it was. After it was all over, I found a hole burnt in my shirt at mid chest where one of them had hit me. If he had not moved to his own chair, he would have caught that one in the face. Of the five kids that were at our friend's house, three of them were hit. Of the other two, one was grazed and the other had a burnt spot on her coat.

During the recovery period it was prime camping season and we had several trips planned. I will never forget seeing him so afraid of any kind of fire that he wouldn't walk on the same side of the road that had a site with a campfire burning. Even when he would go to a friend's birthday party he would cower and hide until the candles were out. It took him a couple years to get over it but eventually he did. He is now a typical ten year old that I almost have to tackle to keep him from throwing stuff in the campfire.

I guess the point I'm trying to get out here, is that no matter how careful you are, you never are completely in control of the fireworks. Please keep this in mind as you celebrate on the 4th.


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## ember

OMG!! What a harrowing experience!! Glad your son recovered ok and know that your sharing this story will save some other children ALOT of pain and heartache.
Happy 4th of July to you!!


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## johnp

Wow

John


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too

thank you for sharing


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## thefulminator

If reading this helps anyone avoid a similar situation, it's well worth my time to post it.


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## TexanThompsons

Thank you for sharing. I don't think we'll see many instances of that this year as most cities in TX have decided not only to enact a burn ban, but they've banned the use and sell of fireworks. I can see why, my grass crunches under foot now.

Glad your son turned out OK from that incident and a GREAT reminder for us all to be careful!!


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## ember

because the more eyes that see this the better!!


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## Sayonara

Thanks for sharing and thank God nobody was hurt worse !!

Be safe everyone!!


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## GoodTimes

Thank you so much for sharing.  I'm glad everything turned out "ok' in the end.


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## thefulminator

It's that time of year again so I am giving this one a bump.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too

thefulminator said:


> It's that time of year again so I am giving this one a bump.


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## Camping Family From MI

Oh my goodness! Thank you for sharing.


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## Nathan

Great advice!

Plus, don't forget the lesson that Eric taught Wolfwood (on why not to let Eric do fireworks....)...


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too

Nathan said:


> Great advice!
> 
> Plus, don't forget the lesson that Eric taught Wolfwood (on why not to let Eric do fireworks....)...










Eric Does Fireworks-NH Style


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## Up State NY Camper

Thank you for sharing. I grew up around fireworks. My grandfather used to sell them so we always had a HUGE display that would make local municipalities displays look small. We would all get a big box of fireworks to blow off all day until the show at night. Well almost every year someone got hurt doing something stupid. Never an accident like yours, just something plain stupid. I have lots of firework stories I could share, but I don't want to give anyone any bad ideas. Plus I don't want you to know how nuts my family was around the 4th.


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## rdvholtwood

Great Advice - Thanks for sharing! Everyone please have fun over the 4th of July, but, please be careful this weekend - and especially keep an eye on the children!


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## thefulminator

It has been a few years and it is the right time to revive this topic as a friendly reminder to all.


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