VIDEO: The St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit, a typically quiet and behind-the-scenes branch of local law enforcement, is speaking out as the summer season kicks off โ and theyโre issuing a stark warning: homemade fireworks arenโt just illegal, they can be deadly.
A home explosion in Florissant last week, triggered by a homemade firework, left one man dead, the second fatal blast in the area in just three years. In 2022, another homemade explosive detonated, killing four people.
Sergeant Jon Martin with the Bomb and Arson Unit says what many people casually refer to as โhomemade fireworksโ are, in reality, powerful explosive devices. He said these incidents highlight the growing danger of illegally manufactured fireworks โ not only to the people making them, but to entire neighborhoods.
“All these explosive devices that we are encountering have up to 500 times the amount of explosives,” Martin said. “As seen in past experiences, houses blow up, and that’s going to impact neighborhoods, their neighbors, and so forth.”
