Fireworks blast injures two children in church parking lot, California rescuers say

Two children playing with fireworks outside a San Francisco Bay Area church suffered serious injuries when one exploded, California firefighters reported.

Firefighters were called at 5:21 p.m. Sunday, March 6, to Birch Street in Brentwood, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District reported on Facebook.

They found a 10-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl had been seriously hurt while playing with fireworks in a church parking lot, police told KTVU.

Firefighters airlifted the boy, who had critical injuries to his face, chest and hands, to a hospital, KTVU reported. The girl suffered facial injuries and was taken to a hospital by her family.

“These are explosive devices,” Sgt. Mitchell Brouillette of the Brentwood Police Department told The Press. “Fireworks aren’t something to take lightly. You’ve got to take them seriously, because of situations like this.”

Brentwood is a city of 64,000 in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.

This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Fireworks blast injures two children in church parking lot, California rescuers say."