DAYTON — Investigators are working to find out whether commercial-grade fireworks were involved in an explosion that rocked a neighborhood and left a Dayton man fighting for his life.
Police said 38-year-old Keshawn Rivers on the Fourth of July was on Delphos Avenue inside his car, possibly throwing fireworks, when the explosives detonated. He remains in critical condition at Miami Valley Hospital.
>> Man injured when fireworks explode in car remains in critical condition
A fireworks expert said commercial-grade fireworks pack to much power to take any chances with at home.
“The fuse on them is much faster than a normal firework,” said Scott Bennett, a retired Dayton arson investigator who now runs his own fire and explosion consulting company.
He’s seen people badly hurt and even killed trying to light commercial-grade fireworks.
“More often than not it goes off in their hands or as soon as they release it,” he said.
Bennett saw the horrific pictures from Delphos Avenue, the car where Rivers was sitting inside exploded.
A Dayton police report indicates witnesses saw Rivers lighting fireworks and throwing them out of the car, then saw smoke inside the car right before the blast. Rivers was critically injured and badly burned. Several other people outside at a family gathering suffered minor injuries, including a man who helped pull Rivers out of his car.
“You see some stuff in life that you’ve never seen before and this is something I never experienced in life and never want to see again,” Thomas Maddox said.
The blast sent the car’s sunroof into the second story of a nearby home.
Bennett said he’s seen commercial-grade fireworks take down walls of bedrooms when accidentally set off in a home.
He urges people to leave them to the experts at organized celebrations.
“They’re not setting them off by hand. They’re not reaching down and lighting them by hand for a reason. They’re setting them off remotely, from behind a barricade,” Bennett said.
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