Two men die, teen blows off fingers in fireworks explosions
POMPANO BEACH – July Fourth took a particularly tragic toll in South Florida as two men died while setting off fireworks and a teenage boy blew off two fingers.
■ In Pompano Beach, a 31-year-old man was setting off fireworks about 10 p.m. in front of several bystanders at his apartment complex in the 2800 block of Northwest Fifth Street. He dropped a 3-inch mortar into a PVC pipe and lit it, but it detonated before he moved away, said Fire Rescue spokeswoman Sandra King.
■ Also in Pompano, a 15-year-old boy was seriously injured about the same time while lighting a
24-inch Roman candle in the 1700 block of Northeast Second Terrace. He lost two fingers after the Roman candle exploded in his right hand. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue took him to Broward Health Medical Center. Fire Rescue authorities said his family was not cooperating and hadn’t given them his name.
In Fort Lauderdale, a 32-year-old man was killed just before midnight while setting off fireworks for his family in the 1600 block of Northwest 13th Street, according to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office. Investigators said a Roman candle exploded in the man’s hand and he fell to the ground. Family members could not revive him, and he died at Broward Health Medical Center. Fort Lauderdale police did not release his name.
Fireworks maim people virtually every year in South Florida, but two deaths in one day appears extraordinary. According to the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission, five people nationwide died of fireworksrelated injuries last year. The youngest was a 16-year-old Florida teen killed while trying to light an aerial firework.
“Fireworks are not something to be played with,” King said. “They’re bombs. You’re playing with a bomb, you really are.”
Family members and neighbors identified the dead man in Pompano as Tavares Hamilton. His brother, Calvin Hamilton, told reporters at the scene that the family is in shock.
“He’s a great guy, about to get married,” he said. “It’s just tragic with the family right now. It’s unexpected that this would happen through fireworks.”
Neighbor Val Brown was watching the fireworks from down the street. At some point one of his relatives ran out screaming that the ambulance was on its way.
She walked over and saw Hamilton on the ground. “His forehead was all busted up,” she said. “His whole face was covered in blood.”
He suffered massive shoulder, neck and head injuries, King said.
Hamilton’s neighbor, Angie Williams, was devastated to see her friend after the accident. She was watching the fireworks from the sidewalk down the street when she heard a boom — “like a bomb” — but didn’t realize anything was wrong until she heard the yelling.
His grandma came out of the house and gave the “most curdling scream you’ve heard in your life.” The air around them was filled with light flashes, bangs and smoke from fireworks on other streets, as Hamilton’s family waved the ambulance in with cellphone lights.
“Fourth of July will never be the same,” Williams said. “Fourth of July is never going street again.”
Even before America’s birthday, fireworks injured people in South Florida this year. Five boys were playing with a highly volatile homemade firework two weeks ago when it exploded, seriously burning two cousins, ages 8 and 9, in Pompano Beach.
Last year in Pompano Beach, a man told paramedics he was holding an explosive, possibly an M-80, when a friend lit it. One man lost five fingers off one hand and one of his eyes was injured, King said. His friend burned his hands.
In 2017, two boys each lost a hand while handling fireworks in two separate incidents, one in Fort Lauderdale and the other in Pompano Beach. That same year a Plantation man lost at least one finger due to fireworks.
One of the most notable accidents in recent years involved pro football star Jason Pierre-Paul, who maimed his right hand while shooting off fireworks in Deerfield Beach on July 4, 2015. He has since become an advocate for fireworks safety. to be the same on the