Injured boys finding help in Pompano
Fireworks blast hurt three
The community is stepping up to help three Pompano Beach boys gravely injured in a firework accident.
One 8-year-old boy, Marvin Lane, lost his right hand. His brother, Robert Lane, 9, was burned. And their friend, Jeremy Johnson, 11, lost his left thumb and index finger. They all have some hearing loss and body scars from the explosion.
Most of what the boys know about the July 9 accident comes from what people
have told them.
“After I woke back up, I didn’t know what happened until she told me,” Jeremy said, gesturing to his mother, Dedra Stewart, 49.
The boys and their families are sharing their stories as the city of Pompano Beach plans a fundraiser for them today. The parents say it isn’t enough to warn children that fireworks are dangerous.
“Right after we told them not to, they still went to the park and played with fireworks,” said Wallica Thomas, 28, mother of Marvin and Robert. “Parents should know that when fireworks are around, you need to keep an eye on your kids.
The boys recall finding the round firework while walking toward McNair Park.
“It was a white circle,” said Marvin.
His brother remembers it differently: “It was silver.”
The firework had a pink strip and the No. 4 printed on it, the boys remember. What they used to light it, they are not sure. One says they found matches. Another says they used a lighter they picked up somewhere.
They remember hearing the boom.
Samantha Emslie, a Pompano firefighter and paramedic, responded to the emergency. It drew many people.
“This was my worst call,” said Emslie, who has worked for the city Fire Department for 10 years. “There was wholesale panic. I would say about 30 to 45 people were screaming.
“At first, we thought there was one patient. But then I heard there were three pediatric patients,” she said. “It just hit me in the heart.”
Jeremy says that someone told him his shirt was ripped all the way down the front. Marvin said his face was bloodied in the explosion.
Thomas was just cleaning up after supper when she heard her children were in an accident. Upon arriving to the scene, she told paramedics that she would drive the boys to the nearest hospital. But Emslie told her they needed to be taken by ambulance to Broward General, a trauma hospital with the necessary resources to tend to the boys.
Thomas and Emslie laugh about that misunderstanding now.
“We established a relationship,” Emslie said.
The boys’ medical issues aren’t over.
Stewart, Jeremy’s mother, sighed.
“He just got his first physical therapy two weeks ago,” she said.
The extent of the hearing loss the two younger boys, Marvin and Robert, have suffered is not known, Thomas said.
She said she doesn’t think Marvin’s medical insurance will cover all the costs for a prosthetic hand.
Emslie felt she needed to help the families, beyond helping them the day of the accident.
With the support of the Fire Department’s benevolent society, she started organizing a fundraiser. And then she started reaching out beyond fellow firefighters to participate.
“No one has said, ‘no,’” Emslie said.
Grant Galuppi, who runs Galuppi’s Restaurant next to the city golf course, also is helping, donating all the food for brunch today. The event will include a DJ, face-painting, the opportunity to dunk the fire chief in a tank and a bounce house.
Of the firework accident, Galuppi said, “It could have happened to me, growing up.”
Meanwhile, the boys are looking forward to today’s event. They’re most excited about the bounce house.
“I’m going to get away from my sisters,” Robert said.
His mother replied, “Your sisters are going.”