Firecracker Thrown At Morton Grove Fest Crowd

It could have been worse. Though hundreds of people marched in potentially dangerous heat, someone threw a firecracker into a crowd and two fires were started, likely as a result of homemade fireworks, no injuries were reported at Morton Grove's Fourth of July festivities. 

When the parade stepped off at 2:30 p.m., the thermometer had hit somewhere between 100 and 104 degrees, according to different sources we checked.

Morton Grove Fire Department Chief Tom Friel says the department was called to assist about a half-dozen people, including a parade worker and a man riding a bicycle,  for heat-related conditions. No one marching in the parade required treatment, he said.

Earlier:

"In very few cases did we have to transport someone to the hospital," Friel said. "It was mostly heat exhaution as opposed to heat stroke."

Paramedics checked victims' vital signs and treated heat exhaustion victims on scene with ice applications and cold water to drink.

After the fireworks show in Harrer Park ended at about 10:20 p.m., someone threw a firecracker into the crowd as people were leaving, Friel said. It landed on the south side of Dempster Street, practically at the feet of two small children. They were shaken up, but not injured, he said. 

The fire department responded to two small fires which Friel said were likely due to homemade fireworks. He did not know of any fireworks-related injuries, but said the department would only have a record of that if someone called 911. If they went directly to a hospital, the fire department would not track it.

The department did not receive any calls Thursday for heat-related illnesses.

Friel said unlike the July 1995 Chicago heat wave, which killed between 550 and 733 people, depending on the way various sources compiled the data, people today have much more awareness now of how dangerous heat can be. 

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