I thought that only happened in cartoons

[stuckmotor]

A woman has been seriously injured after mistaking a stick of dynamite for a candle. I wish her a complete recovery. Woman seriously injured after mistaking stick of dynamite for a candle, police say

 

[mddorange]

It sure isn't funny but brings up a lot of questions.

1) I would have thought that the previous owner would have had to clean out the basement to sell the house?

2) My house was inspected before I bought it, why wasn't her's?

3) Dynamite sure doesn't look or feel like any candle I ever saw.

 

[jk96]

3) Dynamite sure doesn't look or feel like any candle I ever saw.

My guess is it was what we used to call a qtr stick. Larger homemade version of an M80.

 

[PILOON]

Only 'dynamite' that I have seen or know of is actually Forcite and is putty like wrapped in wax paper.
For sure not anything near a candle.
Also electric blasting caps are the norm, not fuse wicks, but guess they still exist.

 

[Stimw]

My guess is it was what we used to call a qtr stick. Larger homemade version of an M80.

Had to be some kind of firework.
If dynamite she would have lost way more that a finger!
Probably had the fuse in the side too.
Fake news again, who would click on their story if it said "firecracker".

 

[Sigarms]

Had to be some kind of firework.
If dynamite she would have lost way more that a finger!
Probably had the fuse in the side too.
Fake news again, who would click on their story if it said "firecracker".

It's news not knowing the subject at hand (like guns) probably.

Willing to bet it was an M-80 laying around and the news is calling it a quarter stick (M-80 is smaller).

Per the facial and hand injury, could see an M-80 doing that, but a quarter stick most of your fingers would be gone.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

It sure isn't funny but brings up a lot of questions.

1) I would have thought that the previous owner would have had to clean out the basement to sell the house?

2) My house was inspected before I bought it, why wasn't her's?

3) Dynamite sure doesn't look or feel like any candle I ever saw.

I'm with you on that. The dynamite I've seen was about an inch and a half in diameter, covered with a brown, waxed paper and the contents were a sawdust-like material soaked in, I believe, Nitro Glycerine. A half stick would have been probably six to seven inches long...and cutting the stuff is kinda dicey. They never used anything metal on them, to avoid any kind of a spark; in fact they used a wooden pencil or a probe made of cedar to make an entry hole for the blasting cap. Not to mention that the fuse looks noting like a candle; it's about the size of a lead pencil, waxy looking, but sorta reddish and exhibiting a fibrous, ropy appearance.

Modern dynamite probably looks different now, in fact, I would expect it to.

Anyone see the "Lt. Kenda" series where some guy in Colorado Springs blew himself up with a hand grenade? Apparently he moved into a home that had been rented previously by some guy in the service, and he left a couple live grenades in a box in the garage. They found the victim's finger with the grenade pin still on it. He had to have thought it was a dummy, or maybe he was the dummy and didn't think at all.

 

[MossRoad]

Before anyone goes blaming the media and fake news, blah blah blah....

It was the police spokesman that said it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Had to be some kind of firework.
If dynamite she would have lost way more that a finger!
Probably had the fuse in the side too.
Fake news again, who would click on their story if it said "firecracker".

The blasting cap itself would take most of the hand off.

 

[k0ua]

If it was an actual 1/4 stick of dynamite they would have been picking up pieces parts and putting them in bushel basket. My guess like others have said is that the object in question is some kind of firework. I know what a 1/4 stick of dynamite does. I got that lesson as a child watching dad fire off many of those to blow out stumps etc. An 1/4 stick of actual dynamite is a really big explosion, one you will not live through if you were holding it in your hand. Or anywhere near it.