Homemade Fireworks Kill Michigan Man; 5 Injured in Half-Hour

The Huron Valley Ambulance Service had one of those nights Monday.

At least five people, including a critically injured 5-year-old child, were taken to hospital emergency rooms for treatment of fireworks injuries within a half-hour period from 10-10:30 p.m., CBS Detroit/WWJ reports.

And in western Michigan, Anthony Herman, 46, of Howard City, died Sunday after he was hit by metal from a homemade cannon exploded and blew apart during a Fourth of July celebration.

The Michigan State Police said the incident happened about 10:45 p.m. Sunday in Croton Township.

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In the frantic Huron Valley Ambulance Service runs Monday, the 5-year-old was rushed to C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor after a fireworks explosion outside a Ypsilanti home, the report said.

The injured also included three people who were treated at Beaumont Hospital – Trenton after fireworks exploded outside a home at Ford Road and Jones Street in Carleton.

A fifth person was hit by fireworks along Martinsville Road in southwestern Wayne County.

“Like Devil’s Night”

In western Michigan, authorities think a Wyoming fireworks store that went up in flames early Tuesday morning may have been the result of arson. Tom Hillen, a reporter for WOOD-TV, said in a series of tweets that a man in custody was also a suspect in two other fires in the Wyoming area.

Arson Investigations

In Highland Park, fire investigators were trying to determine if a sky lantern — a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended — was responsible for starting a fire that spread to four houses early Tuesday morning, WDIV-TV reported.

Insufficient water pressure in a hydrant crippled firefighters’ efforts to control the blaze that started about 4 a.m. on Farrand Park.

The fires capped off a busy week of firefighting in Metro Detroit.

A fire around midnight Sunday that caused about $100,000 in damage to a Melvindale fuel pump repair and sales business may have been the result of stray fireworks

Fire investigators are looking into whether a fire in an apartment complex on Detroit’s southwest side Monday afternoon was intentionally set. Residents of the building on Central Avenue between Vernor Highway and Dix Street all got out safely.

Volunteers have been successful in curbing “Devils’ Night” fires, but the Fourth of July now rivals the former Halloween tradition, Detroit fire officials told WJBK-TV.

The arsonists “can’t get anything done” as a result of the “Angels’ Night” patrols.

“So now, they’ve switched it up” to July 4, the official said.

In Detroit, arson was the suspected cause of 17 fires reported the night of the June 27 Ford Fireworks celebration. The Fourth of July holiday is the “new” Devil's Night tradition

Violence at Beach

Elsewhere in Michigan over the Fourth of July weekend, a South Haven beach was evacuated in response to violence that broke out before a scheduled fireworks show Sunday.

In a news release, South Haven police said “the size and violent nature of the crowd made it unsafe for officers and citizens after subjects in the crowd began throwing bottles at officers and citizens.”

Police used paintball and stun guns to control the revelers, some of whom responded by throwing rocks, bottles and other items into the air, Darius Ledbetter, of Potage, told MLive.com.

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