Plantation man injured in fireworks accident

A Plantation man lost at least one finger in a fireworks accident Wednesday night.

The Plantation Fire Department brought the 32-year-old man to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment of traumatic injuries. The accident happened around 9 p.m. in the 7000 block of Southwest 20th Street.

“It went off in his hand and he lost one finger at least,” Joel Gordon, battalion chief for the department said Thursday. “He was lighting off fireworks in front of his son in the backyard.”

The accident happened just hours after public safety officials in Broward County blew up a watermelon and a mannequin to reinforce their annual message that fireworks displays should be left to the experts.

The explosive device was possibly a rocket or other kind of flying device, Gordon said.

After being injured, the man ran to a neighbor’s home for help.

“The question that is looming is whether the fireworks were illegal,” Gordon said. “In Florida, anything that goes airborne or goes bang is illegal.”

Earlier Wednesday, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, the Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad and representatives of the Florida Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigation held their annual joint demonstration of potential fireworks dangers at the Broward Fire Academy in Davie.

There, a large watermelon and an already headless mannequin were ripped apart by various types of fireworks.

“Everybody loves fireworks, people love to see fireworks, but it’s best left to the professionals when it comes to fireworks,” said Mike Jachles, spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue.

“The problem is when things go wrong, they go very wrong very fast,” he said.

Florida has very few types of legal fireworks and even the legal ones, sparklers for example, can have a tip temperature of 1,200 degrees.

“This is the first accident in the city this season,” said Plantation’s Gordon. “Leave fireworks to the professionals. They’re way too dangerous. It’s a tremendous, unnecessary risk.”

And, Gordon said, “It’s not like it happens occasionally. It happens frequently.”

Besides injuries, fireworks cause an average of 20,000 fires annually across the United States, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

In just the last couple of years, there have been several very serious fireworks injuries in South Florida, including one that seriously injured prominent NFL player Jason Pierre-Paul.