A tragic incident occurred on the Fourth of July in Greenback, Maryville, where a man lost his life due to a fireworks accident, as reported by the Blount County Sheriff's Office. According to WBIR, deputies received an emergency call about an unconscious person at approximately 10 p.m. on Evergreen Farms Lane and found three individuals administering CPR upon their arrival.
The man, later identified as 35-year-old Matthew Sellars of Maryville, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead around 10:30 p.m. after deputies took over CPR and tried to manage the wound, "holding pressure on a wound to the man’s chest," as detailed by WATE. A witness told deputies that Sellars, along with another person they were celebrating with by shooting fireworks from their hands, a practice fraught with danger when a firework Sellars was holding detonated on his chest.
The aftermath of the explosion was harrowing, leaving Sellars with a large, gaping hole in the chest, and he also sustained a laceration on his right hand, WVLT reports. Despite the swift response and the efforts to save Sellars, he was pronounced dead at 11:30 p.m. and was later transported to the Blount Memorial Hospital by AMR.
After the incident, officials from the Blount County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that no one else was hurt, no charges were filed, and no citations were issued, maintaining the solemnity of this as a grim reminder of firework mishaps during celebratory events particularly when safety precautions are not strictly adhered to - showcasing the importance of safety during what are meant to be joyous times, "no one was charged or cited for this incident, and there were no other injuries," BCSO officials underscored, as per WVLT.
