This Fourth of July ended up being a tragic holiday for a family in Maine.

A 22-year-old man by the name of Devon Staples died instantly on Saturday after lighting a firework on his head.

The Calais resident was enjoying the holiday celebration in the backyard of a friend's house when he started clowning around with a mortar tube on his head and a lighter in his hand. Staples accidentally ignited the firework, according to his brother Cody, who watched the horrific incident unfold just feet away from him.

"There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there," Staples, 25, told the New York Daily News.

"It was a freak accident...But Devon was not the kind of person who would do something stupid. He was the kind of person who would pretend to do something stupid to make people laugh."