MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ill. — Home surveillance video captured the moment a man was struck with a piece of a firework that exploded in front of his Hillsboro home.
Paul Grider said he and his wife Beth Grider were sitting in lawn chairs outside their home shortly at 9:24 p.m. Saturday.
As Grider got up and started taking his chair inside his garage, a neighbor set off a firework. It landed in front of their home and exploded, and a piece of it flew toward Grider as he was opening his garage door.
"A spark actually hit my arm and a piece of lit paper landed inside my garage as I was entering it," he said.
Luckily Grider wasn't burned. But he said he easily could have been injured or his home could have caught on fire.
He said he's hoping the video will help people realize the danger of setting off fireworks in town.
According to the Consumer Protection Safety Commission, there were about 10,000 fireworks-related injuries that required a visit to the ER in 2019, and 45% of those injuries were to kids under 12 years old.
Illinois has some of the strictest fireworks laws in the country. It is one of three states that only allows fireworks like sparklers, glow worms, smoke devices, or ‘party poppers.’ The state prohibits handheld fireworks, bottle rockets, firecrackers, roman candles and buzz bombs.
