SAUGUS – Three days after a mortar-like firework exploded in his face, 21-year-old Saugus resident Michael Sarro was listed in good condition on Wednesday according to a spokesperson from Massachusetts General Hospital.Fire Chief James Blanchard said Sarro was conscious when firefighters arrived at the scene at 19 Rice St. on Sunday, but received extensive burns to his face, neck, hands and arms after he was hit below the chin by the exploding device.”They were at least second-degree burns,” said Blanchard. “Anything done to your face or mouth can be fatal because you can inhale that super-heated gas. Thank God this wasn’t. I’m sure he’ll have scarring. It’s just a horrible thing to have happen.”Blanchard described the fireworks setup as a rack of 12 tubes containing explosives “like the pros use” that didn’t fully detonate.”The first couple went off and nothing else happened,” said Blanchard. “One of the people there walked up to it and looked in and it went off.”The bomb squad responded to the scene to dispose of the remaining nine unexploded tubes.”They saw they were very unstable explosives,” said Blanchard. “They loaded it onto a truck bed with sand and the bomb squad detonated it at the marsh near Resco.”The injury to Sarro was the only major fireworks-related incident to take place in Saugus over the weekend.On Saturday, a resident on Hawkes Street reported that fireworks had landed on a boat stored on his property igniting the plastic wrap, but he was able to extinguish the fire with a garden hose.”Fireworks are everywhere,” said Blanchard. “Anyone can go up to New Hampshire and get them. You look at all the stuff they have in there and it boggles your mind.”
