Lincoln Woman involved in Serious Fireworks Accident

LINCOLN – (KFOR NEWS: July 29, 2019) A Lincoln woman was involved in a serious fireworks accident over the weekend after attempting to re-light a firework which did not shoot off properly. A group of friends were lighting off fireworks at a residence just outside of city limits, south of the intersection of Highway 2 and Pine Lake Road around 10 o’clock on Saturday night.

39 year-old Staci Fitzsimmons was lighting off a legal “rocket-type” firework, which was left-over from the 4th of July. After lighting the firework, the fuse burned, but the firework did not shoot up into the air or explode as it was supposed to. Fitzsimmons then tried to relight the firework in her hand, using a part of the fuse which was not intended to be lit by hand. She tried to light the firework in her hand so she could throw it, but bystanders report that it exploded almost instantaneously after the fuse was lit.

Lancaster County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Todd Duncan reports that Fitzsimmons suffered serious injuries to her hands in the accident, reportedly losing multiple fingers. He went on to praise the work of off-duty Lincoln Police Officer Trey Wayne, who was working with the Southeast Rural Fire Department at the time of the accident. Wayne quickly applied a tourniquet to the wound, potentially saving the woman’s life.