A man is left with one less hand after a frightening scenario on Fourth of July. Ryli Baumgartner, 19, lost his right hand in a on Independence Day. The teen from Washington was attempting to protect two young kids who were near the commotion.
Baumgartner told : "I was one of those that I was always told about, 'Stay away from the fireworks, you’ll blow your hand off.' Quite literally that exactly happened.” He explained that he was at a family friend’s Fourth of July gathering where partygoers were celebrating with fireworks.
People in the group were intoxicated, and one threw a sparkler bomb a few feet in front of them. He saw two children run toward the firework and knew he only had a few seconds to act. He grabbed the firework, when it exploded in his hand.
"I went to throw it and as soon as I got there, boom, and I looked down and there was nothing," Baumgartner said. He was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, where surgeons had to amputate his hand. He also suffered burns all over his body.
Baumgartner likely wasn’t the only one to visit the hospital that night. Fireworks send people to the emergency room around Fourth of July every year, oftentimes injuring hands, appendages and face, and sometimes causing death. According to the U.
S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were roughly 9,700 people injured by fireworks in 2023. There were eight deaths, five of which were determined to be from mishandling the fireworks.
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