SAN JOSE – A South Bay man who suffered severe burns to his legs along along with his wife and a friend while walking past an illegal fireworks display on the Fourth of July is speaking out publicly about his experience to denounce those responsible and warn others to avoid these amateur displays.
The injured man, who was photographed at his bedside within the burn unit at Valley Medical Center but asked that his name not be used, recalled being outside in Alviso about an hour before midnight when he and his table companions saw a bunch of individuals setting off fireworks on the street.
He recalled being about 10 metres from the scene of the accident when, in a moment captured on video by his friend, the box of high-powered fireworks tipped over and rockets got here flying at him. Before he could react, he was lying on the bottom with severe burns on his legs and enormous abrasions, watching his wife and a lady who was travelling with them suffer similar injuries.
“We went around the side and just walked away,” the person said. “And then in a second it was over. We were lying on the ground burned. The skin fell off our legs.”
Given their obvious injuries, he recalled that the fireworks didn't stop. And after they asked someone on the crowded sidewalk to call for help, he said, he and his injured companions were advised to not call 911.
They did it anyway, and while his friend was taken away in an ambulance, he and his wife drove themselves to the hospital. He is currently being treated for second and third degree burns on his right arm and each legs. He is predicted to receive skin grafts to treat his injuries.
The man's story is harking back to one in all several serious injuries the burn unit has treated because the days leading as much as July 4, said Dr. Clifford Sheckter, director of the regional burn center at Valley Medical Center. They include a person who was reportedly disfigured when a firework exploded in his face and one other man who lost his testicles in a fireworks accident.
Sheckter said he expects greater than 100 burn victims – mostly adults – throughout the holiday season. The numbers are fluid, he said, because people arrive over several days, depending on after they determine to hunt medical care.
“Unfortunately, our attempts to prevent these injuries have not been successful this year. We have had one of the worst years for these types of accidents,” Sheckter said. “I would like people to understand the severity of the situation when faced with these types of consequences.”
The man injured within the Alviso fireworks accident said he desired to urge the general public to learn from his experience and avoid amateur fireworks displays. He said the side of the road he was standing on was sparsely populated, but there have been nearly 70 people on the other sidewalk.
He also expressed his frustration on the response to the moment he and his group were seriously injured, recalling that the celebrations continued and that their plight was largely treated as if it disrupted the celebrations.
“It was just unbelievable to me,” he said. “It's pretty obvious we couldn't go home and just clean the thing with water. The skin was removed.”
The man, who’s from France and has lived within the Bay Area for 20 years, said he was surprised that powerful fireworks were available to most of the people, whether legal or not.
“When you look at these fireworks, you would expect them to be dangerous because they fall on a house and catch fire, but you don't think about that,” he said. “And honestly, how quickly it happens.”
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