Neighbors Say 11-Year-Old Girl Lost Fingers After Firework She Was Playing With Inside Home Explodes
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An 11-year-old girl was hospitalized after a firework she was playing with inside a home exploded. The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. in the 700 block of North Marvine Street in North Philadelphia
Thanks to quick-thinking neighbors who sprung into action, the girl is being treated by doctors and is in stable condition.
"One of the young ladies came out panicking, hollering, saying that something exploded and the little girl's fingers were cut off," retired nurse Janice McDonald said. "I said, 'Listen, I'm a retired nurse. May I come and aid and assist?' They said yes. So I went in and grabbed a cloth and tied her hand up, and told them to calm down."
According to police, the 11-year-old was playing with fireworks upstairs when one went off.
"I heard a loud boom. Then my neighbor came out and said the young lady had a firework or some type of firecracker and it went off and she lost her fingers," neighbor Takiyia Fultz said.
Fultz said the fire alarm was going off at the time of the explosion, and she came outside to help calm down those who were in shock as they waited for first responders.
"She was just nervous. She was really shaken but she wasn't crying or screaming or anything," Fultz said of the girl.
This was the third explosive device-related incident that has sent a child to the hospital in the last four months.
Neighbors are hopeful the little girl makes a speedy recovery.
"I don't know if they can fix her fingers or anything like that but I just hope she'll be OK," Fultz said.
Police say there is damage to the home's second-floor room and the drywall where the girl was playing with the fireworks.
