A nine-year-old girl in Compton, California had her left hand amputated after picking up a lit firework. The explosive was reportedly a part of an illegal fireworks explosion in the city.
How It Happened
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the girl also lost fingers on her right hand and sustained a blast injury on her face, the Los Angeles Times reported. The girl was playing around 12:30 PM on Saturday at the Burrell-MacDonald Park in the 2500 block of West Alondra Boulevard near her home when the incident occurred.
The girl's grandmother told ABC7 that the child was leaving the park when someone threw a lit firework in her direction. The girl picked up the explosive, unaware that she was holding a live firework in her hands. Neighbors in the area said around 50 children were in the park when the explosion happened.
The girl's parents, who were at home, rushed outside the house when they heard the explosion. Sgt. Daniel Tobin said the parents saw the girl standing shocked at the park with her injuries visible.
Afterwards, the child's parents quickly took her and rushed her to the nearby hospital. On Monday evening, the girl's condition has stabilized though the damages to her hands were beyond any kind of repair.
Fireworks Injuries
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the most common firework-related injuries were to the hands and fingers. In 2015, around 11,900 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms due to fireworks injuries, while 11 individuals died.
Fireworks are regulated by cities in California. In Compton, a state fire marshal determines whether a firework is certified as "safe and sane," the LA Times further reported. Tobin, however, said that the firework -- or any type that caused that kind of explosive trauma -- involved in the girl's injuries is illegal throughout the United States.
"The type of fireworks that are legal in some municipalities would not cause this type of trauma unless they are modified," Tobin stressed, as quoted by the news outlet. No arrests have been made yet on who lit the illegal firework that caused the girl's injuries.
Other Fourth of July-related fireworks injuries include a 31-year-old Nebraska man, whose hand was blown off 90 feet away and his left eye injured, NY Daily News reported. Another incident involved an 18-year-old tourist's mangled foot after an explosion in Central Park in New York City. A 25-year-old man in South Bend, Indiana, meanwhile, lost his left hand due to a fireworks explosion, Fredericksburg Patch added.
