Serious Message Is Sent Amid Chunks of Exploding Melon

A watermelon was given an early Fourth of July at the Ventura County Fire Department’s training center Thursday.

To show the potentially lethal effects of fireworks, crews loaded the sweet, pink, summery fruit with an M-100 and blew the melon sky high.

The result: fruit salad, with chunks of the sticky melon sailing above bystanders’ heads.

Although the audience thought the demonstration was funny, Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna said the message was serious.

“This illustrates the violent force behind these fireworks,” Luna said, adding that even the so-called “safe and sane” fireworks sold in Fillmore can be hazardous.

Fireworks are not legal anywhere else in the county, and possession could result in a fine and/or jail term.

Just because fireworks can be purchased over the counter doesn’t mean they are safe, fire Capt. Tom Kruschke said.

“Safe and sane fireworks is a misnomer,” he said. “It’s not safe and it’s not sane to use these things.”

Also on the agenda at the media show were illustrations on how easily fires start.

Luna lobbed a bottle rocket atop a shake roof, igniting a fire in about 60 seconds.

Even a hand-held sparkler--an American holiday staple--engulfed a child’s dress, used as a prop for the show, in about 40 seconds.

And it took just seconds for a fire to emerge from a patch of dry grass.

The stopwatch method proves how quickly fires begin, Luna said.

Fireworks sparked four blazes last year.

Early seasonal fires are often signs of what is to come, he said, urging holiday revelers to visit professional Fourth of July celebrations and not to create their own.

“While most parents work year-round to keep children safe,” a statement issued by Luna said, “if they shoot off fireworks in their backyards once a year, they are placing their children at substantial risk.”