Ark Valley News - Fireworks cause severed thumb, field fires

Fireworks cause severed thumb, field fires
By Matt Heilman
Last Updated: July 11, 2013

A man lost his thumb and Valley Center fire crews were kept busy on America's birthday, but overall, the July 4 celebration didn't overextend emergency personnel in north Sedgwick County.

Valley Center crews were called to at least eight fireworks-related fire calls July 4 and early July 5.

It started with a grass fire in a ditch in the 8600 block of North Ridge Road around 4 p.m. July 4.

Crews then responded to a wheat field fire in the 11700 block of North Maize, 81st North and Hoover, and 85th North and Woodlawn.

Firefighters also went to a grass fire in the 7400 block of North Ridge and a brush fire in the 6100 block of East 85th North.

Sedgwick County fire crews were also busy throughout the Fourth of July weekend. In north Sedgwick County, crews responded to field fires and a couple of mobile home fires in Park City's mobile home park north of 61st North and Broadway. The first call reported July 5 destroyed a mobile home on East Sequoya. Sparklers that were left on a back deck of the home caused the fire.

A second fire to a mobile home reported on July 7 was extinguished on the underside of the structure.

For area police departments, the holiday celebration was for the most part calm, although there were a couple noteworthy calls in Valley Center and Park City. In Valley Center, Police Chief Mark Hephner cited an incident where a man lost his thumb in a July 4 fireworks accident as the one call that stuck out in a week that he otherwise described as "relatively quiet."

In the July 4 emergency call, police said Brian Russell, a 35-year-old man visiting friends and relatives from Texas was lighting fireworks at a residence in the 3900 block of West 77th North when an artillery shell apparently exploded prematurely and tore off his left thumb.

The artillery shell blew through the side of the cardboard mortar, hitting Russell's thumb and severing it from his hand below the second knuckle. Russell was taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. What was left of Russell's thumb was recovered, but police weren't sure whether doctors would attempt to reattach it to his hand.

In Park City, Chief Phil Bostian said his department has been short-staffed and was "really, really busy in general" last week, not limited to calls relating to fireworks. In one fireworks-related call, a man was reported to be driving in the city and shooting fireworks at people from his vehicle. Bostian said the man threatened a person who confronted him about shooting fireworks from his car on July 2 in the 1400 block of East Ashford. A victim stated the man confronted him and threw a firecracker at him after he began video recording the man's actions. While on the disturbance call, officers observed the suspect throwing fireworks into the street, which is in violation of city ordinance, but there were no reports of an arrest or citations issued in connection with the case.

In Bel Aire, Chief John Daily said his department received 25 fireworks-related complaints, most of which were called in before July 4. In Bel Aire, the national holiday was the only day residents were allowed to detonate fireworks although they went on sale in the city June 27. Daily said most of the complaints dealt with people who didn't know the city rules pertaining to fireworks. He said fireworks ordinance violators approached by officers in the city cooperated after receiving a warning and police didn't have to confiscate any fireworks.

The City of Kechi had the smoothest sailing through the Fourth of July celebration. Chief John Blevins reported that there were no calls relating to fireworks in Kechi from the time fireworks went on sale June 27 through July 4.