Proper fireworks are quite dangerous, but well worth it if you ask me.
However the mortars from which they are projected are supposed to be buried in the ground with earth packed down around them. The mortar tube is just made of heavy cardboard and can't take big breech pressures, as any fule should immediately notice...
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I wonder what sort of mortar it was. I have been helping with local firework displays for 20 years on and off.
We used to use spherical shells, all with full instructions in Chinese, fired from mortar tubes in racks but I never liked them. Fused with flash powder they would exit the tube a fraction of a second after lighting, and the procedure was to turn and walk away as one lit the fuse, in case the tube blew (it never did) or more likely the shell exploded low (I had a couple of those). The head teacher who was killed several years ago at a school display was peering down the tube at one that hadn't gone off...
I wear a welder's flame resistant overall and a chainsaw helmet with visor. Now we use only category 3 consumer fireworks, although some of those are pretty lively and would be illegal to store at home except in the mesh cages they are supplied in.
We tie all the ground mortars / mines to stakes and seat them on solid boards. Same with the multi tube cakes. Unless they are on a solid surface they will recoil or blow the bottom out of the tube. I certainly wouldn't put one on my head.
The only ones I worry about are the rockets if the wind gets up. It surprises some people that they actually fly into the wind rather than get carried with it. The wind pushes the stick and they weathercock, worth remembering if you ever let any off yourself. The problem then is that they don't get high enough and / or end up in places where you don't want them.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sun 5 Jul 15 at 20:11
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Those Crazy Yanks - Armel Coussine
