LAKE CITY -- Jeff Richards doesn't clearly recall the night that landed him at Munson Medical Center, but constant, agonizing pain will keep him from repeating a dangerous mistake.
Richards, 35, of Missaukee County, rested in a groggy, medicated haze at Munson this week. He's recuperating from serious injuries and four-hour surgery after a percussion cannon he lit exploded outside his Kelly Road residence on Sunday night.
The blast shattered the cannon and rocketed a palm-sized piece of steel into his rectum area, Richards and his father, Bill Richards, said.
"Was I going to make it or not; that is what was going through my mind," Jeff said. "I really don't remember too much."
The cannon, a knee-high barrel welded to a plate, is a contraption Richards loaded with black powder and a shop towel and ignited "hundreds of times," he said.
But when the barrel blew Sunday, it left him with a gaping wound and a week-long stay in the hospital to mull a message others can take away from his misfortune, he said.
"Don't mess with (explosives) if you don't know what's going on. Let the professionals do it," Richards said from his hospital bed Wednesday. "I always make sure everybody is back out of the way, but that stray piece just happened to get me. I am lucky to be alive."
A friend, Clifford Baughan, applied pressure to the wound as Brian Richards rushed his brother to Mercy Hospital in Cadillac. Richards then was flown to Traverse City.
"My son was minutes from his death and Clifford bought him those minutes," Bill Richards said. "If anything, it would be a good chance to tell people to take extra precautions. It isn't a whole lot different than (fireworks)."
In 2006, an estimated 9,200 people were treated in emergency rooms across the United States for fireworks-related injuries, most of which occur around Independence Day, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Norwich Area Fire Chief Brian Whipple said injuries like Richards' are rare in Missaukee County, but it isn't unusual for area agencies to see an injury spike around the Fourth of July.
"With sparklers and everything else, you have to monitor it. It can be very dangerous with kids and can catch their clothes on fire," he said. "It just takes a split second."
Missaukee Sheriff Jim Bosscher sent deputies to investigate the explosion at Richards' home, but said it is not illegal to use a percussion cannon. Like fireworks, the cannons are inherently dangerous, he said, and those lighting the fuse are taking a serious risk whether they are experienced or not.
"Last year at the scheduled, licensed fireworks in Missaukee there was an injury," he said. "Even in a professional setting, things can go wrong."
Print this story
E-mail this story
