KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — A GoFundMe account has been established to assist a man’s family with medical expenses after a fireworks accident with a “sparkler bomb” in Rosser, Texas, on the Fourth of July led to the amputation of one of his legs.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — A GoFundMe account has been established to assist a man’s family with medical expenses after a fireworks accident with a “sparkler bomb” in Rosser, Texas, on the Fourth of July led to the amputation of one of his legs.
Family members expect a long road to recovery for the man, identified as Rowdy Smith of Canton, Texas, and, as such, will require an extended stay in the Dallas area for his family — wife and two young children.
Officials say the incident occurred on Farm-to-Market (FM) 2451 in Rosser, Texas, which is located in southern Kaufman County, on Monday night, July 4, 2016.
Smith bundled approximately 350 sparklers together, placed them in a cinder block, and lit them, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Captain Fred Klingelberger told inForney.com.
Klingelberger says the force of the explosion blew out the windows in a nearby house and threw him back several feet.
Neighbors also reported hearing the explosion several blocks away from the incident.
The GoFuneMe page aims to raise $10,000 and has raised $4,540 in the past five days by 37 people. The GoFundMe page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/2cu48pwx.
The Rosser Volunteer Fire Department and CareFlite responded to the incident. The man was transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
In a similar incident on Saturday, a 15-year-old Houston-area boy, also named Rowdy, lost part of his leg, multiple fingers, and may be permanently blind after lighting a homemade sparkler bomb in Sargent, Texas.
Additionally, the College Mound Volunteer Fire Department and CareFlite responded to the 5000 block of Cheryl Lane in Kaufman County for a person who was hit in the face by fireworks. That person’s injuries are unknown at the time of this report. A request for additional information was made.