The dangers of homemade fireworks

Homemade fireworks can be as dangerous, if not more so, than those purchased at roadside stands.

What can happen? A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites a few examples.

• A 52-year-old man in Iowa was making fireworks in his living room when an explosion occurred. It was believed to have been sparked by a metal spoon used to mix gunpowder, sulfur chlorate and phosphorus in a metal can. The man was killed.
• In New York , the fire department, a hazardous materials team and the state police responded to reports of a loud explosion and white smoke in a rural area near a mobile home park. The explosion caused the release of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and other unidentified chemicals that were being used to make fireworks. No one was injured, but the hazardous materials teams conducted decontamination and debris removal from the property, and the owner was ordered to conduct soil sampling and to remediate all areas of contaminated soil.
• A 43-year-old Utah man was making fireworks in his home, using ammonium nitrate and picric acid, when an explosion occurred. The blast forced the evacuation of 45 residents from the area for six hours while local police, fire and health officials and representatives of the state's environmental protection agency investigated. The man lost several fingers in the explosion.
• Two Washington residents, one 27 and the other 15, were killed when chemicals being used to manufacture fireworks exploded, and their mobile homes was destroyed by fire. The chemicals included barium nitrate, nitrocellulose, potassium nitrate, potassium perchlorate, strontium nitrate and sulfur. All debris had to be removed and the property decontaminated.