Family urges fireworks safety precautions after Blount County man dies in July 4th accident | WJHL

BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) – After 35-year-old Matthew Sellars was killed in a fireworks accident on July 4, his family is speaking out about the dangers of setting off fireworks themselves.

“The first thing that comes to mind about Matt is that he was the absolute dumbest person you could ever meet in your life. Every one of his habits was just funny,” said Matthew Sellars’ cousin Hannah Bookout.

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

“You have to tell people that he’s not sad, that he’s not angry. He just has that kind of face,” she said. “But then when you say something to him, he starts smiling and laughing. He had the most beautiful smile.”

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

“He loved ATVs. They spent a lot of time on ATVs our whole lives,” she said. “They worked on all the trucks around here. He’s been working as an excavator operator for my dad, Bookout Excavating, for the last 10 to 12 years.”

On the night of July 4, their lives changed forever. Bookout remembers friends and family gathering to watch them set off fireworks in their backyard.

“They were just having fun out there and then we couldn’t see anything because it was dark, but my husband started screaming for help. We ran out to help and when we got there we saw Matt’s wound,” she said.

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

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

“But unfortunately there was nothing we could do,” she said. “We made sure he knew he wasn’t alone. Of course we’ll never know what he saw, what he was thinking, or what really happened. But he wasn’t alone, and we made sure he knew that, and we would never give up on him.”

Now Bookout and her family are urging the public to educate themselves about the risks associated 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 of them don’t go off. 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.”