www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/disney-world-gaston-actor-dead-806834/
TIL in 2015, Devon Staples, who used to work at Disney World and would dress up as Gaston and Goofy, died instantly after attempting to launch a firework off his head while celebrating the Fourth of July with his friends.
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“There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there,” said Cody.
Fuck, that must have been some firework
The poor mom is saying he thought it was a dud, but he must've lit it so he probably didn't actually think that.
Only thing I can think of is if they lit it and it didn't go off for a few mins so they started messing around with it thinking it was a dud
oof, I had a hangfire on a 3" mortar once. I left it the whole display and a few minutes of going wtf after the show and then it went off. safety perimeter had not been changed as I thought there may be a hangfire, but it was startling when it did go.
What’s the protocol if it just didn’t go off and you have to pack up? Douse it with copious amounts of water? Steel bucket?
Submerge in water, so ideally a hose that I can still have a standoff distance and ability to soak the mortar tube. You have to assume any unspent firework is a hang fire, so keep as much distance as possible, don’t let anyone approach. At the end of a show, I fire every cue just in case one didn’t go and may still. After that, it’s pantshitting time
So, if I have this right, the protocol is:
1.) Fire off every cue
2.) Don't approach unspent fireworks
3.) Submerge in water
4.) Shit pants
Feel free to shit pants anytime you think you have unfired fireworks, I do !
5.) Profit
5.) start recording
6.) Profit
0.) Don't forget to wear the brown pants.
No u shit pants first
Pants shitting comes after you fire off every cue, but before you submerge in water
I'm firing some mortars for the 2nd time in my life and a 25 shot 500g cake for the first time in my life tonight. I've spent the past couple days picking and questioning the safest launching point in my yard where I can set down a level large concrete planter, and when I go to light things up tonight I'm going to have both my garden hose and a fire extinguisher within reach. If a mortar doesn't fire, I'm sacrificing the tube and drenching that shit for 10 min. The cake finishes and even if I think it's good it's getting a good soaking and will be left out overnight. You've got to have absolutely respect and thorough planning for dealing with explosives in my mind. The last thing I want to do is become a statistic or wreck any of my own or my neighbors' property.
Aye, I’ve had some massive cakes miss a tube, it’s a pain in the ass, but less scary than a mortar hang. At least the cake only ever relies on a single use cardboard tube, so as long as you don’t look down the barrel you should be able to contain problems
An old friend of mine's birthday is today, so we'd go over to his place and set off fireworks (often including a few mortar fireworks, so a nice show for the neighborhood!). He lives at the end of a cul-de-sac, which makes for an excellent place to launch from.
Anyway, long story short, he always kept a bucket full of water, a shovel, and the water hose off to the side, just in case. I don't remember any duds or whatever with the mortars, but other things that weren't being cooperative would get the hose, then the bucket.
Nice to know he was doing the right thing!
Protocol? Private, attention!
Left face! Bucket on face! Into the fire, Forward MAAARCH
When I am doing large stuff, a large bucket of water nearby is protocol
They often do things you don't want them to. Had one just hop out of the mortar and land hissing on the grass next to it. I actually managed to get about 10 metres before it went up.
Aye yea, you do your best to mitigate shitfires. I keep all my stock in airtight bins with moisture absorbing packs.
I just remember when we, a bunch of kids, decades ago, were out target shooting and a friend brought a new semi auto rifle (cheap, we were young, dumb, and broke), loaded with cheap ammo, and I distinctly watched it jam, him go to try to fix it, and it start firing off with his hand nowhere near the trigger.
We loaded up the bed of his truck with as much mass as we could in front of the barrel of that gun, cinderblocks, dirt, whatever the fuck, strapped it down, and he drove it to a gunsmith.
I would absolutely treat any kind of mortar, firework, explosive, whatever, with the same respect.
Haha, I have a story to add, and it explains how naive my father is. I’m more competent with firearms than he is, and he loaded the wrong size shell in his shotgun and it jammed. Rather than call me, he walked a loaded gun into a gun shop and scared the shit out of everyone. He learned that day
Friend of mine got a 12" mortar. Last year one he shot off misfired and went off early -- I can now say I know what a Dungeons & Dragons 20-foot-radius fireball looks like IRL.
12" mortar, holy shit ! Largest I've fired is 6" and that was something. 20' sounds like a small banger, you normally get about 100' of altitude with each inch of shell and often the spread is almost 60-80% of alt. I would have expected a bigger fireball
Ah. Yeah. No.
Don't do that.
'Never return to a firework once lit'. Literally says that on them.
I'm pretty sure you can return at some point
NEVER!
Nah, that spot is now hallowed ground and an exclusion zone must be forever established around its perimeter
This is the true story behind Chernobyl.
Give it overnight. That's plenty.
Growing up we had the option to have our garden hose next to the street. It was on all night ready to be used. Any dud got hosed down and dunked in water. All large spent fireworks were dunked in water. If it did not go off right, it might go off wrong.
Only thing I can think of is how drunk they must have been to even do this, as I unfondly have PTSD flashbacks from the years I worked 4th of July in the Trauma surgery ICU
Not necessarily. Probably didn’t go off immediately because it was loaded upside down, so he thought it was a dud, moved it, and it blew up.
That's exactly it.
Because I've seen this exact shit happening with fortunately lesser consequences.
Shell was loaded upside down because it came off the little string looping it around. Plus beer.
First little explosion went off, (which is surprisingly weak when not pressurized) then the guy legitimately brought it to about eye level and flipped it over to let the "dud" shell fall out and the moment it came about an inch off the tube, it went off and seared his facial hair off lmao.
Got some bruising on his chest and thighs.
He might not have thought it was a dud but also not really thought it was going to go off, and certainly not that it was going to go off fast and hard enough to kill him. Sometimes when you're drunk you just don't connect dots that are really obviously connected when you're sober. I feel bad for the guy and his family.
Really, the fact that our independence holiday mixes explosives with alcohol is both the dumbest thing we could have done and the most American thing possible.
I interned at a public defender's office in Kentucky in the 90s. The attorneys there told me that it was a regular thing every summer that they'd have charges dismissed against their clients because one or more key witnesses had blown themselves up with fireworks on the 4th.
The perfect crime
Work in a hospital (not patient side) and this holiday is to the hospital what Black Friday is to retail.
Had an ICU doc who said in the most deadpan voice "Yes, let's have a bunch of COPD patients in the heat with lots of smoke, beer and salty foods while this will be their last week with ten fingers."
And also tripple digit heatwaves when surrounded by wildfires already in progress.
"it's not loaded, I promise"
His mom is saying that because she can't stomach the thought of her own son dying so senselessly on purpose by his own negligence. Calling it that makes it go down easier.
that was my thought too.
and i'm not gonna argue with her. Any modicum of peace she can get is for the best.
His brother said he was the kind of person who would pretend to do something stupid for a laugh. People have died pointing a gun they thought wasn't loaded at their head and pulling the trigger as a joke. This could be the same situation with a firework, pretending to light a firework that he thought was a dud in a stupid way as a joke.
Of course, it could be his mother and brother both preferring to think that he died in a freak accident than that he died doing something incredibly stupid. But I don't find it unbelievable that it was genuinely an accident. Still doing something stupid, but not as stupid as intentionally launching a firework off his head thinking he'd survive.
And could be he didn't realize how much downward force those tubes have on them, from what I've read before I pictured the firework going off correctly but destroying him in the process as it launches
The mom and brother are in denial