LA City officials said Tuesday that 19 people, including a young girl, suffered traumatic injuries as a result of fireworks accidents over the July Fourth holiday.
The girl was holding an "M-80" type of firework when it detonated in her hand, and LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the girl suffered very critical injuries.
No other details of the incident were immediately available, other city officials said.
New data obtained by the I-Team from the LA City Fire Department said approximately 10 fires were ignited by or were related to fireworks between July 1 and July 5.
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LAPD data that also included the week prior to the holiday weekend showed two brush fires, 23 structure fires, and 32 tree fires that were likely caused by fireworks. Police dispatch records listed 1,232 calls reporting illegal fireworks in recent weeks, down from nearly 2,700 during the same time last year.
Chief Moore said another person was seriously injured in a separate incident while holding a bottle rocket firework.
Almost all fireworks are illegal to personally possess or use in the City of LA. Moore said officers had confiscated more than two tons of illegal fireworks, made 31 arrests, and issued 19 citations during a special fireworks enforcement period.
In Montebello a man was killed when a firework he was holding detonated during a party on July Fourth. A city official there said the man suffered trauma to his upper torso when he tried to light a, "high powered, mortar type, aerial firework." The man died at a hospital.
