2 Indiana men die in fireworks accidents

Two Indiana men were killed in separate fireworks accidents over the Fourth of July holiday after sustaining significant trauma to the head from the explosives.

James Drake, 41, Marion, was killed Saturday night when he went to check on a firework shell that had not fired when expected, Fox 59 reported. Drake was rushed to Marion General Hospital, where he died about an hour later.

"I think he approached one, and it went off and struck him in the face," said Grant County Coroner Chris Butche, who ruled Drake's cause of death accidental.

In northern Indiana, the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department said 44-year-old Jose Magallanes was found dead late Sunday morning when officers responded to a report from neighbors of a loud boom.

Magallanes had explosion injuries from a fireworks incident, the Elkhart County Coroner's Office said. The coroner ruled Magallanes' death an accident caused by blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Associated Press.

Although fatalities from fireworks-related incidents are rare -- there were at least 11 such fatalities in 2014, according to a report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission -- injuries involving fireworks are not. That same commission estimates that at least 10,500 fireworks injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms last year.

Local restaurateur Scott Wise, owner of multiple Scotty's Brewhouse locations in Indiana and the Thr3e Wise Men Brewery in Broad Ripple, had his own encounter with fireworks this weekend -- one that landed him in the emergency room with second-degree burns.

"'Local bar owner is an idiot,' I guess is the headline," Wise said. "This one was me lighting sparklers for kids. It just totally went awry."

Wise tweeted a photo of his injury Monday, which he said happened around 8 p.m. Saturday and left him with large blisters and burns.

Wise said the incident happened as he was attempting to light handheld sparklers for his children. While the incident happened too suddenly for him to be completely sure of how his hand caught fire, he said he believes sparks from the sparkler ignited another firework he was holding.

Wise said he used his incident as a teaching moment for his children.

"Even while I was running my hand under cold water in the sink, I'm still trying to teach my kids," he said. "I tried to be a little funny with it. I don't think it's something that should be completely comical because things could have gotten a lot worse for me."

Contact Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.