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Authorities warn of illegal fireworks risks after blast
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Officials are urging the public to only use fireworks sold at licensed tents, such as those shown here at the Kaboomers tent in Pittsburg, rather than buying black market fireworks or trying to make their own. - photo by Jordan Meier
PITTSBURG, Kan. — Following an explosion this week at a home in the Kansas City suburb of Raytown, Missouri that left a man dead and three people injured, authorities are warning the public not to attempt to make their own fireworks, which they suspect as the cause of the detonation. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen this before in Kansas City, way too many times,” said John Ham, spokesman for the Kansas City field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). “We lose fingers, we lose hands, we have fatalities every year that are — tragically — easily preventable,” Ham said.