Bizarre Chain Reaction Torches SUV, Ignites $3K in Fireworks

Consumer fireworks have been legal in Michigan since 2011. Two online petitions are seeking repeal of that law. (Photo by Flickr user Blixt_A)

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Michigan’s anti-fireworks camp couldn’t have scripted a message more effective than the real-life police report of fireworks revelry gone haywire in St. Clair Shores on the Fourth of July.

A bizarre accident at a family Fourth of July get-together damaged a car and a neighbor’s house, and sent people running for cover in a chain reaction that one officer admitted “sounds unbelievable.”

A group of people were discharging fireworks in the street – itself a violation of St. Clair Shores ordinances – when someone knocked over what was supposed to be an aerial firework, The Macomb Daily reports.

The powerful firework launched sideways into a 2005 Ford Escape belonging to one of the party revelers. The SUV caught fire, torching a large arsenal of fireworks stored inside the vehicle – about $2,000 to $3,000 worth, police said. A large mortar crashed through the window of Karen Cardno’s house across the street, and as more errant fireworks flew, people in the neighborhood took cover.

Cardno told the newspaper it was “the biggest fireworks fiasco i’ve ever seen.”

“Talk about a misfire,” she joked.

Also on Patch:

• Police: Residents, Suspects Lucky No One Injured in Bomb-Like Firework Explosion
• Reportedly Mimicking Stunt, Man Dies After Putting Firework to Head

Cardno called 911 and then ran out of the house after the window shattered. She said she feared the house she’s rented for the past four years on Grand Lake might burn.

“Then I saw the car across the street engulfed in flames,” she told the Macomb newspaper. “It was unreal.”

No one was injured. The homeowners were ticketed by St. Clair Shores police, and have reportedly agreed to pay for the damages to Cardno’s front window.

Cardno said she thinks Michigan lawmakers should address the issue of fireworks.

“It gets pretty crazy all over on the Fourth of July,” she said.

“Blown Out of Bed” by Fireworks

A petition on MoveOn.org seeking a ban on consumer fireworks had 528 signatures late Monday afternoon.

The group cites citizens complaining of being “blown out of bed” by fireworks and having to sedate their pets, and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who say constant barrage of explosions causes them to revisit past trauma. Petition organizers also noted the effect of toxic heavy metals emitted by fireworks on human and environmental health.

Among those who signed the petition was Deborah Lange, of Clinton Township, who said her deck and pool were “a mess” from debris. “My dogs were scared to death,” she wrote. “I shouldn’t have to protect my home from damage.”

“Never in my 47 years have I ever experienced what we did this 4th of July,” Wendy VanTil commented on the petition. “It was like being in a war zone and when it was over, you could hardly see for hours form all the sulfur smoke.”

She thinks Michigan law should revert back to allowing “small little fireworks” appropriate for use by children. “Leave the big stuff to the professionals,” wrote VanTil, who said her neighbors were setting off big airborne fireworks in their back yard in the middle of 50-foot oak trees.

“We are lucky there was not a fire,” she wrote.

The petition is one of two on Moveon.org to repeal Michigan’s consumer fireworks law. Another has more than 11,000 signatures. The goal of the Fireworks Safety Act of 2011 that allowed consumer fireworks was to increase revenue, the petition states, but “the result has been a drastic increase in the amount and violence of private fireworks displays all over the state of Michigan, thereby endangering people, pets and property.”

“It is not worth the additional revenue,” according to the petition.

Bomb-Like Explosion “Random Act of Maliciousness”

Elsewhere in southeast Michigan, a Dearborn man’s door was broken, windows were blown out and his living room filled with smoke after a powerful firework exploded on his front porch about 2 a.m. Friday and caused significant damage.

Dearborn police detective Capt. William Leavens told Patch.com that the victim, Walter Zulaski, wasn’t targeted with the firework, but was lucky that he wasn’t injured. Blinds covering his window protected him from shattered glass and potentially saved Zulaski’s life, Leavens said.

“This was a random act of maliciousness,” Leavens said of the firework, described as a coconut shell, that was placed on Zulaski’s porch. The firework was legally purchased under Michigan law.

“That doesn’t mean they’re safe for all conditions,” Leavens said. “It’s a pretty serious explosive device if not used in the right manner or at the right location.”

Police suspect juveniles are responsible. “It was more than likely poor decisionmaking on their part, not realizing the extent of the damage the firework can cause,” Leavens said.

“It’s fair to say that everybody is happy nobody got hurt,” Leavens said. “The people who lived at the house are fortunate, but the suspects are also fortunate that no one got hurt, because that would have made this more serious.”

Fireworks Thrown in “Boat Rage”

In Oakland County, investigators are looking into a case of “boat rage” in which the occupants of a boat believed to have been responsible for a minor collision “became very aggressive” and began throwing fireworks at the occupants of the other boat.

The incident occurred late Saturday night as boaters were dispersing from a fireworks display over Oakland Lake in Waterford Township, according to a police report.

No one was injured and the incident remains under investigation. No one has been arrested.

Independence Day week had a tragic start. On Sunday, June 28, a 47-year-old Oakland County man reportedly imitating a stunt he’d seen on a YouTube video died after the large mortar firework he held to his head exploded, police said. The man, identified as Scott Jeffers, thought the firecracker was unlit when he held it next to his head.