CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Fireworks appeared to be the cause of several fires across Chicagoland over the Fourth of July weekend and into Wednesday morning.
“It looks as though we probably have at least a half-dozen that may have been started by pyrotechnics,” said Larry Langford, the director of media affairs for the Chicago Fire Department.
Langford said the largest of those fires was in the 5700 block of West 64th Place and happened around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, where at least three garages caught fire.
The fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported.
“We [saw] the remnants of a lot of pyrotechnic activity after we went and examined the fire areas,” he said.
Langford said many of the fires believed to be caused by fireworks happened in the area around Midway Airport, and he added that anyone who sees someone setting off fireworks should call 911 to report it.
Overall, Chicago saw fewer fireworks-related injuries in 2023 than it did in 2022, Langford said.
“We’re showing about 18 or 19 responses for fireworks injuries — all of them, except one, being an adult,” he said. “Whereas last year, we had about 40.”
Elsewhere in the Chicago area, a man was hospitalized in critical condition after a fireworks accident in unincorporated Cary near Lake County.
Officials with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said they believe he was launching commercial-rated fireworks for a party without a permit. At some point, a firework failed to go off, and the man decided to look inside the firework tube. It exploded in his face.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office told WBBM that the man has stabilized, though he remained in critical condition at Libertyville’s Advocate Condell Medical Center.
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