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Father charged for handing son faulty sparkler, boy loses hand

Mercs

Mercs

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May 2019
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This is being reported on local news as the 37 year man in the report being the father of the boy. Please read the article and let us know your thoughts, and if you have any info to share on this. Could it really have been a sparkler that exploded? Media reports the father told investigators he handed his son a “sparkler-type firework”

abc7chicago.com

5-year-old boy loses hand after 'sparkler type firework' explosion in Englewood

A 5-year-old boy lost his hand on New Year's Day while handling fireworks in Englewood on the South Side.
abc7chicago.com abc7chicago.com
 
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Well that's a horrible story to read! My heart is shattered! That poor family! Maybe it was a "sparkler bomb." made in someone's garage. UGH!
 
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Hmm, let's see, "sparkler type device" in Chicago....that explodes and takes someone's hand off? My guess is one of those heavy crackers that has the little quick fountain at the beginning of it before it takes your hand off. Of course, there is a very outside chance it was actually a fountain which clogged due to the child holding it horizontal or even towards the ground. I've seen some have a pretty good pop when they clog and cato, but I doubt it would damage your hand to the point of no repair. My guess still hedges on illegal device.
 
I had two fountains cato on me during my memorial party in Jersey last year. They can "pop" pretty hard if its held horizontal but mine where taped down. Had to be an issue with those. A sparkler though?
I agree as to a "sparkler type of device" was used.
 
Could it have been one of those new style sparklers, like Rosey Posey? Those are like handheld fountains. I imagine if they clogged or got crimped or something they could go bang. Still, not likely to blow a hand off... Got to agree that it was more likely an illegal explosive, or something along those lines.
 
From the NYS Division of Homeland Security:
New York State Law allows for the sale and use of a specific category of consumer fireworks known as Sparkling Devices.

Sparkling Devices are ground based or handheld devices that produce a shower of colored sparks and or a colored flame, audible crackling or whistling noise and smoke. The law limits the type, size and construction of Sparkling Devices and requires that these devices must be hand held or mounted on a base or spike and be limited in sizes that range from 1 to 500 grams of pyrotechnic composition.
Click to expand...

So I can easily see conflation of "sparkler" with "sparkling device" such as large fountain or gerb.

There are three ways (that I know about) that gerbs/fountains burst instead of acting as expected. One is that the pyrotechnic composition was not compacted correctly during manufacture, leaving voids, or was damaged in shipping, leaving cracks. When the burn reaches the unconsolidated material, the flame propagates very rapidly - "bang". The second is that the clay nozzle clogs, due either to the composition leaving dross when it burns or the device being on its side or upside down. The third is that the fuel is too "hot" for the nozzle size; in consumer fireworks, you see this mostly in cone fountains designed to shoot high. Gerbs and rocket motors share these issues. I can personally attest that the "bang" can be more like a commercial salute than like a firecracker. I had a case of consumer cone fountains that I used only 200 feet from my audience (and myself) as about 1/3 of them failed in this way. I think those were a combination of small nozzle and cracked in shipping. But pyro builders know that when testing gerbs we're building, to give them plenty of space until we're confident they're dialed in.
 
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Well I’m not sure IL media even knows what a sparkler is as there illegal there lol. My guess one of those illegal crackers that start as a fountain or a faulty fountain, I had a fountain explode years ago and that was a heck of a bang.
 
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