A man was critically injured after a powerful firework exploded in his face as he was trying to determine why it hadn’t detonated.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded to a gathering in the unincorporated community of Cary, Illinois, around 9.15pm on Sunday after it was reported that a 58-year-old man was injured while handling commercial-grade fireworks.
“He lit a firework, which did not detonate as expected,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “The man looked into the tube housing the firework and it discharged, striking his face and then exploding.”
When first responders arrived at the scene, the man was in and out of consciousness.
He was sent transported to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in critical condition.
The man, whose name was not released, then had to be airlifted to the Advocate Condell Medical Center in the neighbouring town of Libertyville.
Authorities said he had sustained major injuries to the head and remained in critical condition as of Monday.
The man reportedly did not have a permit to detonate the several fireworks he brought to the Fourth of July weekend gathering.
According to law enforcement, several unexploded fireworks were collected by sheriff’s deputies.
The explosives were then transferred to the Waukegan Bomb Squad for destruction.
The sheriff’s office said criminal charges are possible.
More than 10,000 people are injured while handling fireworks every year, according to NPR. Seventy-three per cent of those injuries around July 4.
