Official: Woman lit dynamite, thought it was candle; blew off fingers

A woman blew off several fingers when she accidentally lit a quarter stick of dynamite in her home Thursday night, officials said. A woman blew off several fingers when she accidentally lit a quarter stick of dynamite in her home Thursday night, officials said. Photo: Tara O'Neill / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Tara O'Neill / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Official: Woman lit dynamite, thought it was candle; blew off fingers 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — A woman blew off several fingers when she accidentally lit a quarter stick of dynamite in her home Thursday night, officials said.

Assistant Fire Chief Michael Caldaroni, who was the battalion chief at the scene, said the woman lit what she thought was a candle during the power outage caused by the severe storm that hit the city Thursday night. Instead, police spokesman Av Harris said, she lit a quarter stick of dynamite.

Officials said that the dynamite was left behind by the previous owner of the home, which is on Lindley Street near its intersection with Summit Street. .

“The family remembered that when they purchased their home two years ago, there were a couple of what they thought were candles left in the basement by the previous residents of the home or homeowners,” said Av Harris, police spokesman. The woman, about 30 years old, has two children and her husband and the children were home at the time, he said.

One of her children called 911. The woman suffered serious injuries and was taken to Bridgeport Hospital, Caldaroni said. It was unclear how many fingers she lost.

There wasn’t severe damage to the inside of the home, Caldaroni said, but a window was blown out. The children, who are staying with family while their mother is in the hospital, were not injured.

Fire and police units found what Caldaroni described as a “makeshift firework” in the home while investigating. As a precaution, they evacuated the residents in the two homes on either side of the woman’s residence and called in the state police bomb squad to remove the explosive, which was later detonated at a safe location.

The fire marshal and Bridgeport police are investigating the incident.

”There are two lessons learned from this tragedy that are important for members of the public to be reminded of,” Harris said. “The first lesson is if you discover something in your home, that looks like something related to flame or fire and you do not know what it is, immediately contact your local fire department.”

He added: “The second important lesson to remember is to always have back up auxiliary lighting in the case where you lose power and do not have lighting in your home. Preferably the lighting should be battery-operated, glow stick, or hand crank lighting so as to avoid the risk of fire damage.”