A 14-year-old scorched his parents SUV after taking it without permission to buy fireworks on the Fourth of July.
The Skyway, Washington teen, too young to drive legally, took his parents’ red GMC Envoy and joined friends in a Roman candle fight, reports local outlet KIRO-TV.
The teen joined friends in firing Roman candles at each other—a dangerous game where people hold the projectile fireworks in hand and launch the series of flaming pyrotechnic stars the firework ejects at a target, usually other teens.
Roman candles are considered one of the more dangerous fireworks because users frequently misuse them. They are banned in several countries, including the Netherlands, as well as some states, though Washington is not one of them.
The King County Sheriff’s Office said one of the candle’s projectiles went through the window of the SUV, setting it on fire.
Photos of the SUV provided by King County Fire District 20 show the scorched vehicle completely gutted with only very little of the red paint to make its original color discernible.
None of the teens involved was hurt, nor were firefighters who had to battle the blaze who said it could have been much worse.
Firefighters reportedly warned that if conditions had been drier, it was completely possible the blaze could have spread to two nearby homes.
Kiro reports that the teen’s parents will not be pressing charges.
Roman candles were responsible for 500 injuries last year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2016 annual fireworks report.
The report finds that males were responsible for the majority of Roman candle-related injuries. Heads, faces, and ears were the most common injury areas.
Matthew Little for NTD
