# Did You Ever Shoot Off Fireworks, and Were You Careful With Them?



## SeaBreeze (Jul 6, 2015)

Seems like every year there are people getting seriously injured from fireworks.  This weekend a man killed himself by setting the fireworks on his head before lighting them.  I can't believe this insanity, and no, I don't buy the 'well, he was drinking bit', not enough liquor in the world to make me do such a foolish thing.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I lit small firecrackers as a kid, with encouragement from my brother.  Believe me, as soon as they were lit, they left my hand like lightning.  The only way I might have had a minor injury was if one of them was defective.

Do you or did you shoot off your own fireworks?  Were you careful or careless?


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## Pappy (Jul 6, 2015)

As kids, we would light them, in our hand, and then throw them. After my friend nearly blew his two fingers off, we stopped doing this. Cherry bombs under a tin can was always fun.


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## hollydolly (Jul 6, 2015)

No I've never ever lit a firework...only sparklers when were kids, but nothing more. I've always just been a spectator . I personally think they should be banned except for organised  groups for national celebrations etc .


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## Falcon (Jul 6, 2015)

Only little firecrackers and sparklers.  We let the pros shoot off the big ones.


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## Meanderer (Jul 6, 2015)




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## QuickSilver (Jul 6, 2015)

I never could understand the attraction of firecrakers, cherry bombs.. M80's   Just a bunch of noise and a colossal  waste of money..  Besides.. my poor doggies go crazy with fear on the fourth..  we make it a point of being out of town in order to spare them the agony..  It's a stupid waste of time.. and very inconsiderate IMO.


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## AZ Jim (Jul 6, 2015)

In San Diego as a kid, M80's were always available as they were used on Tuna boats to keep sharks away from nets.  In high school one idiot threw one in a toilet and blew the toilet to smithereens.


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## Meanderer (Jul 6, 2015)

*The Ultimate in Fireworks...Town Blown To Smithereens!*

'One pleasant spring day in 1955, an atomic bomb blasted an American city into oblivion. This is the story of Survival Town, a purpose-built collection of structures, buildings, even mannequins designed to measure the effects of an atomic weapon used against urban centers. Its optimistic name notwithstanding, Survival Town was destined to become, in a flash, Loserville'.
http://weburbanist.com/2009/11/08/blown-to-smithereens-the-secret-story-of-survival-town/

HomeSweet....uh oh


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## Laurie (Jul 6, 2015)

Once, when I was a teenager in the forces there was a whole bunch of us on a troop train going through the English countryside and at every station we sped through we bombarded waiting passengers with fireworks.

The authorities got fed up with this and pulled the train in for an unexpected stop and flooded it with police.

Unfortunately I was not quick enough and got 14 days in what you call the Stockade.!

At four months before my sixteenth birthday it was what is known as "hard time"!


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## WhatInThe (Jul 6, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> Seems like every year there are people getting seriously injured from fireworks.  This weekend a man killed himself by setting the fireworks on his head before lighting them.  I can't believe this insanity, and no, I don't buy the 'well, he was drinking bit', not enough liquor in the world to make me do such a foolish thing.
> 
> I can count on one hand the amount of times I lit small firecrackers as a kid, with encouragement from my brother.  Believe me, as soon as they were lit, they left my hand like lightning.  The only way I might have had a minor injury was if one of them was defective.
> 
> Do you or did you shoot off your own fireworks?  Were you careful or careless?



In regards to the fool that lit the firework on his head and killed himself. Sorry but he belongs in one of the ' Dumbest ' categories. Yes I am going to kick a man when he is down(forever). Let this be a lesson and a good thing that comes out of this-Do Not Light or Set Off Fireworks Off Your Head . If you know you haven't been using your head lately find something else for purpose.

At least he went out with a bang.


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## imp (Jul 6, 2015)

The extreme. The "Baker" explosion, 1946, U.S. conducted, south Pacific. Several months were spent dredging and flattening the seabed floor, keeping it level and consistently 180 feet deep. Baker was exploded underwater, at a depth of 90 feet. During the first full second, the expanding bubble removed all the water within a 500-foot (152 m) radius and lifted t*wo million tons o*f spray and seabed sand into the air. This left a instantly left a gigantic gaping "hole" in the ocean's  surrounding water, which of course had to c rash back into itself.

The _Baker_ shot produced so many unusual phenomena that a conference was held two months later to standardize nomenclature and define new terms for use in descriptions and analysis. The underwater fireball took the form of a rapidly expanding hot gas bubble that pushed against the water, generating a supersonic hydraulic shock wave which crushed the hulls of nearby ships as it spread out. Info from:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads#Test_Baker






The ultimate in fireworks!    imp


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## Warrigal (Jul 6, 2015)

When I was a kid we celebrated Empire Day in honour of Queen Victoria which we simply called Cracker Night.

For several weeks before CN day would come home on payday with a bag of fireworks which my sister and I would accumulate in little suitcases under our beds. We would build a big bonfire in the back yard from bush firewood, and anything else we could get our hands on like old tyres and make a guy to place on the top. Half the street would come to light the bonfire and let off their crackers and afterwards to cram into our small house to sing around the piano. 

We didn't have very powerful crackers; Catherine wheels, roman candles, skyrockets, various sized bungers, jumping jacks, sparklers and throwdowns were the common ones. It was a ritual to light a jumping jack and throw it at Dad's feet and he would leap around like a madman to amuse us.

I thought Cracker Night was so exciting, second only to Christmas.


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## applecruncher (Jul 6, 2015)

Not a fan of fireworks.  As a kid we sat on the grass in a park and watched.  But now the city I live in has a huge display downtown which I sometimes watch on the news.  Would not bother me a bit if all fireworks were outlawed and stopped permanently.


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## imp (Jul 6, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> Not a fan of fireworks.  As a kid we sat on the grass in a park and watched.  But now the city I live in has a huge display downtown which I sometimes watch on the news.*  Would not bother me a bit if all fireworks were outlawed and stopped permanently*.



How about an alternative? Stop all war and killing. Outlaw it. Outlaw sending young Americans overseas to their deaths needlessly, in the name of "Geo-political Stability"? The Middle-East incursion has by now killed, what, 5,000 Americans, many thousands maimed for life? 

Why worry about fireworks?    imp


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## applecruncher (Jul 6, 2015)

Imp "worry"? I commented on the thread topic.
War...? Really? Middle East.....huh?
BTW some killing IS outlawed.
Topic .... fireworks.


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## Cookie (Jul 6, 2015)

I love fireworks, the bigger the better.  Always love to see the New Years Eve world displays on the news.  Our local park puts on a little show for us every holiday, which is fun to watch from my balcony.


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## Butterfly (Jul 7, 2015)

When I first heard the news about the guy who set the fireworks off on his head, I thought "Nobody could be THAT stupid!"  But I guess he was.  

As I've said before, I'm not a big fan of fireworks, due in part to a childhood friend being seriously injured  by a cherry bomb.  Also the noise scares my dog and she gets very nervous.  Additionally, at least around here, people don't limit it to just one day.  People have been setting off fireworks since Thursday, and the beat still goes on.  Poor Bonnie is about to get shell-shock.


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## SifuPhil (Jul 7, 2015)

We used to tie M-80s to G.I. Joe and Barbie, but before we lit the fuse they got a last kiss.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Jul 7, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> Seems like every year there are people getting seriously injured from fireworks.  This weekend a man killed himself by setting the fireworks on his head before lighting them.  I can't believe this insanity, and no, I don't buy the 'well, he was drinking bit', not enough liquor in the world to make me do such a foolish thing.
> 
> I can count on one hand the amount of times I lit small firecrackers as a kid, with encouragement from my brother.  Believe me, as soon as they were lit, they left my hand like lightning.  The only way I might have had a minor injury was if one of them was defective.
> 
> Do you or did you shoot off your own fireworks?  Were you careful or careless?



Does anyone else find it interesting that you only ever hear of males being injured while setting off fireworks? We have a saying in our house when we hear about these kinds of things....."You would never hear of a girl doing that".....just sayin`......


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## SifuPhil (Jul 7, 2015)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> ....."You would never hear of a girl doing that".....just sayin`......



http://www.whas11.com/story/news/lo...jured-in-illegal-fireworks-incident/29736001/


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## Meanderer (Jul 7, 2015)

...the guy was known to have a short fuse!


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## WhatInThe (Jul 7, 2015)

Meanderer said:


> ...the guy was known to have a short fuse!



Who went out with a bang!

If only this fool had remembered one is supposed to shoot off their mouth and not from their head.


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## jujube (Jul 7, 2015)

One year, we were shooting up parachute flares.  Everything was fine until one came down on the huge, tall dead palm tree in my sister's yard.  Tree is blazing merrily.  We hear the firetruck coming, run into the house, lock the door and turn off the lights.   "No, sir.  Don't know anything about fireworks, sir.  Just sleeping the sleep of the innocent here, sir."    I'm embarrassed to say we were all over 30 at the time.  We can get old, but we refuse to grow up.


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## imp (Jul 7, 2015)

"Girls" are not interested in lighting fireworks themselves. To do so would be anti-chauvinistic. They are innately equipped to start other kinds of fireworks, a feature I have always found most endearing!      imp


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## Laurie (Jul 8, 2015)

Biggest firework I ever "played with" was a parachute flare.  It was a three inch airfield locating mortar, which threw a 2lb flare one thousand feet up, above the cloud base to help returning bombers locate the airfield in low cloud.

It was loaded like the old fashioned cannon, from the muzzle end, propellant charge in a bag and then the projectile.  The charge was 1700 grains of black powder.  None OF this dropping the projectile in and just turning away, this was fired using a friction device and a fifteen foot lanyard!

Even at the limit of the lanyard the noise and shockwave would straighten your hair!


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