Woman Left With Serious Injuries After Lighting A Stick Of Dynamite, Thinking It Was A Candle

A woman in Connecticut sustained serious injuries to her fingers and face after she lit a stick of dynamite because she thought it was a candle.

According to ABC 7, the power in her home was cut off due to thunderstorms in the area. She tried going to Home Depot to purchase some emergency lights but the store was closed. So, the family opted to use what they thought were candles in the basement. Unfortunately, those candles were explosives that may have been left behind by the former residents.

“They brought them upstairs,” said Bridgeport Fire Chief Richard Thode. “There were two. She lit one, went to move it, and it exploded.”

ABC 7 reports that the woman could lose fingers as a result of the incident. Her face was damaged as well. Although one of the windows in the home was destroyed, the other members of the family were not hurt.

The possession of dynamite is against the law in Connecticut, but the fire chief says that the woman and her family will not be investigated. They have concluded that the incident was an accident and that there was no criminal intent or malice behind it.

“There’s no criminal intent, there’s no criminal investigation,” Thode said. “So we don’t know if it was the previous owner, or maybe even the owner before that. It was just some old dusty thing stuck in a corner.”

The Independent reports that there’s a possibility that the dynamite was bought on the black market so that they can be used in fireworks.

The Bridgeport Fire Department and Connecticut State Police removed the rest of the explosives from the home and detonated them. Other homes in the neighborhood were searched as well but no additional sticks of dynamite were found.

“In a city the size of Bridgeport we see a lot of different incidents, but nothing like this,” a spokesperson for the police told The Independent.

ABC 7 reports that the woman who was injured is in her 30s and is a married mother of two children. The explosion took place around 9:30 p.m.

The state police bomb squad responded to the emergency call, along with the state fire marshall and the state police, the Independent says. The authorities have warned residents in the area that they should always keep emergency lights in the home in case of power outages. They also advise them to report any discoveries of explosives in their homes to the fire department.