Every year when New Year’s Eve rolls around, Jack L. Havens, a World War II veteran, knows that some people will be setting off fireworks, and he gets an uneasy feeling because a friend was involved in a serious fireworks accident years ago.
“I just want to warn people to be safe when it comes to fireworks,” Havens said.
Havens, 92, of Sulphur, was serving in the Navy and docked in Naples, Italy, in 1944 when he and a group of other young men from his ship decided to go into town and celebrate the holiday.
“Our friend was stuffing fireworks into the waistband of his pants and running all over the place with excitement and buying up fireworks,” Havens said. “At some point, a bystander flipped a cigarette and it hit him and set off all of the fireworks.”
He remembers seeing flames and his friend screaming in pain.
“I was just a few feet away from him and I told someone to grab a cab and we got him into a cab and to the hospital,” he said. “He had quite a few serious burns and I’m not sure if he even survived his injuries. He was still there when our ship pulled out and I tried several times over the years to find out what happened to him but I was never able to.”
Havens and his wife Gloria are nearing their 66th wedding anniversary, and he recalls how his spendthrift ways helped lead him straight to his future wife.
“I had stayed on a ship for nine months and saved all of my money,” he said. “My friends used to call me ‘Moneybags’ during my eight years serving in the Navy, but I tell you what — it helped me to buy my first car, a ‘49 Chevrolet that was greenish-gray. Right after I bought it, I went on a blind date with Gloria and we hit it off. So I got the girl and the car. We’ve had a good life and have four children, seven grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.”
He said if he can help to save just one life by warning of the possible dangers of fireworks then he figures he has done his job.
“It scares me to think of how people could be injured or killed if they don’t know what they are doing when it comes to fireworks,” he said. “It’s been many years, a lifetime, since I saw my friend hurt badly by fireworks, but it’s something that I will never forget.”
Dale Sarvaunt, assistant fire chief with the Lake Charles Fire Department, said fireworks safety is something everyone should observe.
“It’s also important to remind people that it is unlawful to discharge fireworks within the city limits,” Sarvaunt said.
He offered a few basic safety tips regarding fireworks safety:
- Adults should supervise fireworks use with their children and children younger than nine should never use fireworks.
- Fireworks should be launched from a hard surface and not in the grass.
- Residents should keep a bucket of water nearby for fireworks that don’t fully discharge.
- Do not attempt to relight fireworks that fail to discharge.
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