Things do go wrong with even the professional shows every so often, but people are rarely seriously hurt. Thats a real disaster and I hope the woman mentioned in the article is OK!
As far as us amateurs... I blew up fireworks with my dad every 4th from the time I was about 6 years old and we never so much as singed a finger. The reason was that we took our time, did one thing at a time, and weren't afraid to light the fuse and RUN like heck
indeed that was part of the fun!
My dad and I had a healthy respect for these exploding things. A respect that I noticed as a teenager most of my friends did not share. I spent a few 4th's at friends houses, and even the ones I considered smart did some truly amazingly stupid things. Lighting stuff over the table of other goodies, lighting things in their hands, planning to set them down after the fuse was lit, just general goofing around that my father never would have tolerated while holding things that were throwing off sparks.
If you want to rely on your good luck then by all means have that third beer before you break out the fireworks and goof around. If you want to be sure that you're not injured, wait to drink till after you're done (if you were planning to anyway) and THINK before you light that match. It might not be as cool to stretch out from the side to light that fuse as if the thing were really dangerous, but it's not cool to spend the evening getting measured for skin grafts either.
So dont be STUPID CPFers and you'll be OK.
