Family urges greater firework safety after man dies in 4th of July accident

BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — After 35-year-old Matthew Sellars died in a firework accident on the Fourth of July , his family is speaking out about the dangers of setting them off yourself.

“The first thing that comes to my mind about Matt is that he was absolutely the goofiest person you’d ever meet in his life. Every mannerism that he had was just funny,” said Matthew Sellars’ cousin, Hannah Bookout.

According to Bookout, Sellars was a kind and loving man.

“You’d have to tell people he’s not sad, he’s not mad. He just has one of those faces,” she said. “But then you say something to him, and he starts smiling and laughing. He had the prettiest smile.”

His family said they were very tight knit, and Sellers was always someone they could count on. Bookout said Sellars was her father’s right-hand-man.

“He loved four wheelers. They spent a lot of time four wheeling throughout our life,” she said. “They worked on all the trucks around here. He worked as an excavator for my dad, Bookout Excavating, for the last 10 to 12 years.”

On the night of the Fourth of July, their lives changed forever. Bookout recalls friends and family gathering to watch them set off fireworks in their backyard.

“They were just out there having a good time, and then we couldn’t really see because it was dark, but my husband started yelling for help. We ran out there to help, and when we arrived out there, we saw Matt’s wound,” she said.

According to Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Sellars was holding a firework when it exploded into his chest.

Being a nurse, Bookout tried to do everything she could to save him, with the help of her friend and neighbor.

“But there’s just nothing that we could do, unfortunately,” she said.  “We made sure, we tried to make sure, that he knew he wasn’t alone. Of course, we’ll never know what he saw, if he did think, or what happened, really. But he wasn’t alone, and we made sure he knew that, and we were never going to give up on him.”

Now Bookout and her family are urging the community to know the risks that come with fireworks.

“That was the situation here, It was a misfire,” she said. “Fireworks, as many people know, are dangerous. They’re dangerous, period. No matter if you do them right, some misfire. They can fall over and shoot at people. It’s a risk no matter how you do it, no matter how safely you do it.”

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