INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Fireworks Fail: Maine Man Shoots Fireworks Off Top Of His Head, Dies

By Pam Wright
Published on: 04:51 PST, Jul 5, 2015

A man from Maine, who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July on Saturday, decided it would be a good idea to shoot fireworks off the top of his head.

Unfortunately, the fireworks fail fatally injured the 22-year-old man, authorities said Sunday.

Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks throughout the night on Saturday in the backyard of a friend’s home, according to the Associated Press.

Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, told reporters the incident occurred in the Eastern town of Calais, on the Canadian border near New Brunswick.

Staples reportedly placed a fireworks tube on his head, set it off, and was killed instantly, McCausland told the Quincy Herald-Whig.

There were several fireworks accidents in Maine over the Fourth of July weekend. State fire marshals were also investigating several other Fourth of July fireworks accidents in Friendship, Jefferson, Lebanon, and Woodstock, with most of the accidents involving burns and eye injuries.

In 2011, Maine lawmakers voted to repeal a 1949 law banning fireworks, reasoning the industry would create jobs and generate additional revenue. Staples death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the ban was repealed.

Meanwhile, as reported by the Inquisitr, a fireworks show malfunction in Avon, Colorado, Friday night injured at least nine people.

According to NBC News, a shell did not launch into the air properly. Instead, it exploded on the ground, causing a domino effect and toppling other shells, which shot off into the crowd. Thankfully, the majority of the injuries sustained were minor.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 230 people on average are treated in the emergency room every day during the month of July for fireworks-related injuries, with the most common injury involving the hand.

[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Turner]

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