A massive apartment building fire earlier this week was started by illegal fireworks set off by youths.
The fire quickly spread and left more than 70 without a place to call home. Firefighters rescued a man and several pets.
"This is a very important message from the fire department to our community: Fireworks are dangerous,” D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said during a press conference.
The chief said adults, not the youths who were playing with illegal fireworks, are to blame.
"We have a pretty big fireworks problem in this community. That doesn't happen with children alone. We have plenty of adults that are engaged in it, condone it and allow it to happen. Their kids are also not driving to Pennsylvania or South Carolina on their own to buy fireworks. So, this is a community problem, and it's going to take a community to solve it."
Arson investigator Anne Guglik explained how a local man nearly lost his life last year.
She was a block away when she ran toward a noise. She found an illegal firework had exploded in his hand.
“It blew up before they were able to throw it, and they lost most of their hand … So, I was able to go and put a tourniquet on his arm to slow down the bleeding," Guglik said.
"When there's a primary, direct explosion like that, it actually shreds the flesh, rather than just cutting it, and the mechanisms that cause blood flow to be slower from wounds don't work on shredded arteries and veins, so he could have bled very quickly."
