MAN DISPLAYS SCARS CAUSED BY FIREWORKS : PARENTS, CHILDREN WARNED OF DANGERS.Byline: Keith Stone Daily News Staff Writer Gregory Evangelatos knew there were no words he could use Thursday to keep youngsters away from fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to this Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. . So he took off his sunglasses sunglasses A tinted pair of glasses used to ↓ light arriving at the eye, which are labeled according to the amount of UV light blocked; nonprescription glasses are classified according to use and amount of UV radiation blocked Sunglasses to show his eyes, blinded in a fireworks explosion 16 years ago at his parents' Encino home. He held up his left hand to show fingers that had been reduced to stumps, and a thumb that actually is a grafted-on toe. And when TV cameras at the Grossman Burn Center news conference had captured his disfigurements, Evangelatos made a plea to parents. ``Do the smart thing - urge your children, teen-agers and friends not to play with fireworks,'' he said. ``I've learned from experience.'' Evangelatos was 18 in 1980, a typical teen-ager seduced by the explosive power of fireworks with names like Blazing Rebels, Whistling Man Moon Travelers and Dixie Delights. He said he had taken to dismantling them and packing his own mini-bombs and skyrockets. ``My parents told me fireworks are dangerous,'' he said. ``They tried to take them away. I'd go out and get more.'' Evangelatos thought he was immortal. But in a flash of gunpowder gunpowder, explosive mixture; its most common formula, called "black powder," is a combination of saltpeter, sulfur, and carbon in the form of charcoal. Historically, the relative amounts of the components have varied. , he was sent flying across the room. His life nearly ended; it certainly changed. Now 34 and a business administration student at California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) is a campus of the California State University system. It is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. , Evangelatos spends some of each summer before the Fourth of July as a walking example of the dangers of fireworks. ``I didn't listen,'' he said, ``and I will probably pay for it the rest of my life. Fireworks are dangerous.'' In the city of Los Angeles
``There is nothing safe or sane about fireworks,'' said Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. fire Battalion Chief Rick Garcia. Just this week, a 25-year-old Venice woman lost a finger when an M-100 exploded, Garcia said. Beyond their human toll, fireworks cause enormous property damage. Sixty-three fires in 1993 were sparked by fireworks, down from the 500 in 1983 when the Fire Department began its anti-fireworks campaign. ``Every year, despite all of our efforts,'' Garcia said, ``people are seriously burned, disfigured dis·fig·ure tr.v. dis·fig·ured, dis·fig·ur·ing, dis·fig·ures To mar or spoil the appearance or shape of; deform. [Middle English disfiguren, from Old French desfigurer and injured.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Gregory Evangelatos, who was blinded by fireworks, sp eaks Thursday at the Grossman Burn Center. Tom Mendoza/Daily News |
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