A fire blazed through Sterling House completely destroying the nursing home and forcing residents to evacuate late Friday night just before midnight in Emporia. 
 
 All of the residents of the senior living facility are safe reports the Emporia Gazette. 
 
 Fire crews were called to the residential home at 1200 W. 12th Ave. where residents were evacuated from the building, and taken to the Newman Regional Health, where a staging area was set up. 
 
 The Emporia Fire Marshal's Office says the cause has been traced to improperly disposed of fireworks. 
 
 Video: 
 
 
 
 Photo credit to Emporia Gazette photographer Dustin Michaelson 
 
 

 A man in his 40s apparently lost both his hands Friday when a firework he was holding prematurely exploded, San Jose Police reported. And in Sunnyvale, a mortar-type firework blew off the fingers of two men, officials said. 
 
 Police did not identify any of the men, who were transported to local hospitals. 
 
 San Jose Police Officer Albert Morales said that police were summoned at 9:44 p.m. to the 1300 block of Leeward Drive, near Cassel Park and the intersection of Story Road and Capitol Expressway in East San Jose. A man igniting illegal fireworks, as family members stood nearby, was injured when the device exploded, Morales said. The blast blew off both the victim’s hands, Morales said. 
 
 He is expected to survive. 
 
 The type of device was not identified. “It would have had to have been something pretty powerful,” Morales said. 
 
 The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said it responded after a patrolling officer saw and heard an explosion just before 10 p.m. Friday at an apartment complex on 727 East Duane Ave., near the intersection of North Fair Oaks Avenue. Two men, ages 41 and 32, emerged from a group of 20 people and approached the officer. 
 
 Witnesses said the two men had been trying to ignite a mortar-type firework when it went off in their hands. For one man, the firework blew fingers off his left hand and fingertips off his right hand. The other was missing part of his right hand. The officer treated the men for injuries at the scene before they were taken to the hospital. 
 
 Staff writer Mike Rosenberg contributed to this report. Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/noguchionk12. 

 AUBURNDALE, Fla. - 
 
 A 49-year-old woman has died and her 25-year-old son was also burned during a Fourth of July fireworks accident, according to Auburndale police. 
 
 [RECOMMENDED: Big rig drives itself | Dad discusses massive wasp attack] 
 
 Auburndale police officers helped the Auburndale Fire Department and Polk County Fire Rescue at 8:51 p.m. Friday during a reported fire at 226 Eaker St. 
 
 Quick Clicks 
 
 A family get-together was going on at the home with a number of people attending. 
 
 Police said Kathryn Flint, 49, went inside the home to ready multiple large fireworks, or mortars, that had previously been placed on top of a bed in a bedroom, and was going to take them outside to set them off. 
 
 At about 8:40 p.m., while she was inside the bedroom with two dogs also present, there was an apparent accidental ignition of at least one mortar, police said. 
 
 When the mortar exploded, it set off others inside the bedroom, resulting in the ignition of multiple other mortars. Authorities said those fireworks were all set off, causing multiple explosions inside the room and a resulting fire. 
 
 Upon hearing the commotion, Flint's son, 25-year-old Christopher Flint of Winter Haven, went to the room to help his mother. 
 
 Investigators said Christopher Flint went to a bedroom window, removed an air conditioner and was able to remove his mother from the room, which was burning. 
 
 [SEE THESE? Worst tattoos ever | Tattoo spell check | Fashionable felons | Office signs] 
 
 The explosions and fire severely burned Kathryn Flint and burned Christopher Flint as well. Police said a dog was killed in the incident and another was burned and removed for further care by an officer of the Polk County Sheriff's Office Animal Control Section. 
 
 Kathryn Flint was flown by medical helicopter to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she later died. 
 
 Christopher Flint was transported by ambulance to Lakeland Regional Medical Center. 
 
 Watch Local 6 News and stay with ClickOrlando.com for updates on this story. 

 Before an errant firework blew into a Detroit man's chest and ended his life Friday night, he was spending the Fourth of July like millions of other Americans - grilling out and celebrating. 
 
 Ron Mohlman, 55, of Detroit said he and his friend Mike Aburouman and some of their friends were at a house in the 6000 block of Plainview on Detroit's west side Friday night. They had a fire pit blazing, and they were grilling when people started shooting off fireworks in a driveway. 
 
 Just before 10:30 p.m., Aburouman, 44, picked up a firework and lit it, but instead of shooting into the air, the firework flew ...
– Another Fourth of July has passed and once again, carelessness or bad luck with fireworks meant some people didn't make it through the weekend. Some cases from around the country: Detroit man Mike Aburouman, 44, was killed almost instantly when a firework he picked up to light flew directly into his chest. "It was like a flash, like a bomb, and he fell backwards. I went over there and grabbed his hand and said, 'Hey Mike, it'll be all right,'" but Aburouman's pulse was gone within a minute, a friend tells the Detroit Free Press. In Auburndale, Fla., a 49-year-old woman was killed when she went to retrieve a large mortar-style firework from a pile kept in a bedroom and one accidentally ignited, causing the rest of them to go off, WKMG reports. Kathryn Flint's 25-year-old son was severely burned as he removed his mother from the burning room. Police in San Jose say a man was igniting illegal fireworks in front of family members when one exploded, blowing off both his hands, the San Jose Mercury News reports. He is expected to survive. Two other men in the city lost fingers when a mortar-type firework they were trying to ignite went off in their hands. Fireworks were also the cause of many fires around the country, including one in Emporia, Kansas, when a senior living facility burned to the ground in a blaze blamed on fireworks that were improperly disposed of, KAKE reports. All the residents escaped safely.