Man shoots firework from top of head, dies instantly.

[Archetype XLIV]

http://www.wtae.com/national/man-shoots-firework-from-top-of-head-dies-instantly/34013474

A 22-year-old Maine man who had been drinking while celebrating the Fourth of July died after trying to launch a firework off the top of his head, according to authorities.

During a backyard party in Calais, Maine, on Saturday night, Devon Staples placed a reloadable fireworks mortar tube on his head and told friends he was going to light it, Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press. (seriously, how else would one expect this to go?)

His friends urged him to stop and thought they had dissuaded him, but Staples ignited the firework and was killed instantly, McCausland said.

Staples' brother, Cody, 25, told the New York Daily News that he was a few feet away when his brother lit the firework.

"There was no rushing him to the hospital," Cody Staples said. "There was no Devon left when I got there."

It was the first fireworks-related death in Maine since the state legalized fireworks three years ago.

Devon Staples' friend, Kayleb Moses, told Bangor, Maine, TV station WABI that he and his girlfriend had left the party shortly before the incident.

"Happy," is how Moses described Staples. "He was fun to be around. Definitely the life of the party, that's for sure."

Calais Fire Chief Robert Posick told WABI that the incident should serve as a cautionary tale for others.

"There's a reason why it goes boom," he said. "It's not just a benign piece of fun. It's truly dangerous and it does go boom unfortunately."

 

[MikeRafone]

My grandpa had a stock answer for these kind of accidents, "More proof that Darwin was right."

I've set off a few of those things over the years. They were originally designed to launch military flares. They'll wake up the neighborhood and draw the cops with the explosion alone. The bright flare is visible for miles as it slowly descends.

The first time I set one off, a mil-surplus job, it dug an irregular,six inch deep hole in the hard red clay I had sitting on.
I've got to figure this one probably removed everything above the upper part of the guys chest?

For the life of me, I can't imagine who would be stupid enough to put one on their head and fire it up? Dumbasses of that level are few and far between.

 

[Archetype XLIV]

My grandpa had a stock answer for these kind of accidents, "More proof that Darwin was right."

I've set off a few of those things over the years. They were originally designed to launch military flares. They'll wake up the neighborhood and draw the cops with the explosion alone. The bright flare is visible for miles as it slowly descends.

The first time I set one off, a mil-surplus job, it dug an irregular,six inch deep hole in the hard red clay I had sitting on.
I've got to figure this one probably removed everything above the upper part of the guys chest?

For the life of me, I can't imagine who would be stupid enough to put one on their head and fire it up? Dumbasses of that level are few and far between.

Well, then there's this: http://news.yahoo.com/mom-man-died-fireworks-accident-says-rules-too-205543867.html

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The mother of a man who tried to launch a firework off the top of his head for July Fourth and was killed instantly said Monday she's advocating for stricter controls about who can use the explosives.

Devon Staples, 22, and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in a backyard in Staples' eastern Maine hometown, Calais, when the accident happened with a reloadable fireworks mortar tube, police have said.

Staples' mother, Kathleen Staples, said she is going to reach out to lawmakers about the possibility of tighter controls over fireworks. The state should consider requiring safety training courses before allowing someone to use them, she said. She compared fireworks with other regulated items such as cars and guns.

"At least it'd be a little bit more than, 'Here you go,'" Staples said. "That's an explosive. They didn't just hand me a license and put me in the car."

Devon Staples also had lived in the Orlando, Florida, area, where he worked as a performer portraying Disney characters such as Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast" and Goofy, his mother said.

She said he believed the firework was "a dud" that was unlikely to hurt him. State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas said that is unlikely because the mortar had been fired once previously and he "can't imagine someone would anticipate that it was a dud."

Staples' death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since it legalized fireworks on Jan. 1, 2012, authorities said. Lawmakers had voted to repeal a 1949 law banning fireworks, reasoning the industry would create jobs and generate revenue.

Democratic Rep. Michel Lajoie, a retired fire chief from Lewiston who has pushed to repeal Maine's fireworks law in the past, said Monday that he's considering trying to introduce another measure next year but acknowledged it faces long odds. Retailers have fiercely opposed any effort in the Legislature to restrict the use of fireworks.

Lajoie said even a ban might not prevent injuries and deaths.

"They're going to say, 'Well, you can't regulate stupidity' ... and it's true, you can't. But the fact of the matter is you have to try something," Lajoie said. "I'm not giving up."

 

[DvlDog4WVU]

http://www.wtae.com/national/man-shoots-firework-from-top-of-head-dies-instantly/34013474

A 22-year-old Maine man who had been drinking while celebrating the Fourth of July died after trying to launch a firework off the top of his head, according to authorities.

During a backyard party in Calais, Maine, on Saturday night, Devon Staples placed a reloadable fireworks mortar tube on his head and told friends he was going to light it, Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press. (seriously, how else would one expect this to go?)

His friends urged him to stop and thought they had dissuaded him, but Staples ignited the firework and was killed instantly, McCausland said.

Staples' brother, Cody, 25, told the New York Daily News that he was a few feet away when his brother lit the firework.

"There was no rushing him to the hospital," Cody Staples said. "There was no Devon left when I got there."

It was the first fireworks-related death in Maine since the state legalized fireworks three years ago.

Devon Staples' friend, Kayleb Moses, told Bangor, Maine, TV station WABI that he and his girlfriend had left the party shortly before the incident.

"Happy," is how Moses described Staples. "He was fun to be around. Definitely the life of the party, that's for sure."

Calais Fire Chief Robert Posick told WABI that the incident should serve as a cautionary tale for others.

"There's a reason why it goes boom," he said. "It's not just a benign piece of fun. It's truly dangerous and it does go boom unfortunately."

So two years ago I had my last fireworks display at the lake. It was going to be amazing. I had went to SC two days prior and picked up $3k in fireworks. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into my show, I had a mortar short shot and fell back in the bucket that I kept all of the other 250 mortars in. I immediately dropped my blow torch and dove in the lake to escape the ensuing inferno which was a fireball about 10 feet in diameter with shots blasting out every second or so for a good 2 minutes. If it wasn't for the shear terror, it would have been amazing to see. Crystal, thought the explosions had blown me into the lake and I was dead.

 

[Archetype XLIV]

So two years ago I had my last fireworks display at the lake. It was going to be amazing. I had went to SC two days prior and picked up $3k in fireworks. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into my show, I had a mortar short shot and fell back in the bucket that I kept all of the other 250 mortars in. I immediately dropped my blow torch and dove in the lake to escape the ensuing inferno which was a fireball about 10 feet in diameter with shots blasting out every second or so for a good 2 minutes. If it wasn't for the shear terror, it would have been amazing to see. Crystal, thought the explosions had blown me into the lake and I was dead.

LOL, I remember this story.

 

[MikeRafone]

LOL. You're damned lucky you were in a boat.

Once those things start blowing out of control, the best place to be is far away. Wasn't it in Philly where an errant mortar tube blew up a fireworks barge in the early 90's? I remember several workers being killed.

We set the above mortar off on the hill in North Charleston, trying to impress my buddy's girlfriend, who lived up there, and one her friends I'd been seeing for about a week. It was in the early/mid-70's when the chemical plants were going full force. My buddy and I were heading into our final year of HS.

That thing went off about 400 feet above Carbide's storage tanks on the valley bottom.There were more cops in that neighborhood within five minutes than a hick from sticks like me had ever seen in his life. I grabbed that girl by the hand, pulled her into my truck, and hauled *** for Lincoln County.

I was so butt ignorant at that age, it didn't strike me that setting that thing off above a huge chemical complex would be a bad idea?